Ross The Boss
I’m Gonna Return With A Real Master Class

23.08.2018

This was for me a real highlight among my journalist experiences. Could a boy, who started listening to Manowar at the age of 12, even imagine that 17 years later he would be interviewing Ross “The Boss” Friedman, the band’s founding member who played on all the classic Manowar albums, from “Battle Hymns” (1982) to “Kings Of Metal” (1988)? What’s no less important, the legendary guitarist turned out an interesting person to talk to, and over 30 years of our communication via Skype we managed to cover a lot of ground, from winged swords at the Manowar museum to the tragic death of former Manowar drummer Scott Columbus. Moreover, Ross will soon come back to Russia (he and his solo band will play in Moscow on November 6 and in St. Petersburg on November 7), and we couldn’t but discuss the upcoming shows as well.

Let me congratulate you on the release of your “By Blood Sworn” album. Could you please introduce it to your fans here in Russia?

Of course. Well, on April 20th on AFM we released “By Blood Sworn”, the Ross the Boss band. It’s our new record and we are very proud of it. It’s an old school recording basically but with new technology. I think, if you listen, you will find out what really made old heavy metal records great. We’re giving a nod to the old school, but we are new school, we live in 2018 and we have the best of the old and the best of the new. So I hope you all enjoy it.

Yeah, that’s quite a good record. I’ve already listened to it and I enjoyed it.

What do you think of the three re-done Manowar songs?

Weeeell… Honestly, I would like to ask you about it, because I remember that in one of the interviews you did, you mentioned that you did not like the re-recordings of “Battle Hymns” and “Kings of Metal”. And now you re-record three old songs. So what was the point? And what is the difference between you re-recording your oldschool material and Manowar doing the same stuff?

Okay. Good question. The difference being is that I was never happy totally with the recordings back then. I mean, they are very good, they are groundbreaking, no doubt about it. But you know, sometimes as an artist you always want to be able to go back in time and re-do things. Like, I mean, Manowar, they re-did “Battle Hymns” and they re-did “Kings of Metal”, right? So I always wanted to mix those songs from my perspectives. And that’s what we did.

Ok, I see you point.

AFM was very interested in three bonus tracks, three old Manowar songs as bonus tracks, anyway. It worked out.

Answering you question… Well, to me the music is very fine but the vocals…I still can’t get used to anyone else except for Eric Adams. So it sounds kind of strange to me, no offense. But still they sound good.

Well, Eric Adams is Eric Adams, there is no one like him. There’s only one person like that on that planet – and that’s Eric. Marc Lopes is Marc Lopes. Trying to compare them is like trying to compare apples and oranges. Both are good. What can I say? Marc does an incredible, respectful job of the music, he admires, he idolizes Eric and he wanted to do a respectful job. And he did. I mean, I am really proud of him and proud of the three extra-songs. And listen! What counts the most is the new record so that’s all I really cared about. The three bonus tracks were bonus tracks.

Yeah, that’s true. And if we’re talking about the songs from the entire album, let’s discuss some of them. My personal favorite one is “Among the Bones”, number 2, and it’s quite different from the others because of more melodic vocal lines. So the question is – who wrote these vocal lines, Marc Lopes or you?

Marc wrote the vocal lines.

Well, that’s interesting, because the choruses are really, really different from all other vocal stuff on this album.

Marc wrote all of the vocals on everything.

Another distinguishing song is “Circle of Damnation” because it almost reminds me of The Dictators with its rock’n’roll mood. So what was your source of inspiration while writing this song?

Well, “Circle of Damnation”… I would say that what really influenced me on writing this music was “Never Say Die” by Black Sabbath, that kind of feeling. But you know, Black Sabbath – that was rock’n’roll anyway. The Dictators…I mean, I really didn’t think about it. I really didn’t think that was The Dictators but a lot of people are saying it, maybe because of the way the guitar comes off, like a punky feeling from it but you know… Listen, I think that’s great, but this song was originally inspired by “Never Say Die”, Black Sabbath.

Okay. What actually happened to your previous line-up, the musicians you played with on your first and second albums? Why weren’t they involved in this record?

Well, 2008 - “New Metal Leader”, 2010 - “Hailstorm”… So after that I was thinking about having a band that lived near me. I’m in New York here and, you know, having a band in Germany made it so that I had to go to Germany any time we wanted to play. Right now I have an America-based band and it’s a lot easier. It was a lot easier doing a record, especially.

Yeah, I think that sounds reasonable. Why did Rhino left the band, the ex-drummer from Manowar? What happened to him?

Rhino wanted to stay in Florida, concentrate on a full-time job, be with his family. I said, “You do what you gotta do. When you play, you’re great, we want you, but if you have to concentrate on your family – do it!”. So I gave him my blessing and he is still down in Florida. So I wanted a guy who would be a warrior that would be with me all the time. So when Rhino said, “I’m not gonna play Wacken fest” I got the original drummer from the Keep It True line-up, my nephew Lance Barnewold, to play drums again and Lance played on the record. So now Lance wants to stay home, ok, now I have Steve Bolognese. The last tour we did, we had Steve Bolognese on drums, he is from Death Dealer and Into Eternity. I think we have the most powerful line up now. We just did Europe and Australia and it was amazing.

Talking about Death Dealer– what is the current status of this band?

The current state is – the third record is being worked on. It will be out sooner than later. But now the Ross the Boss band and “By Blood Sworn” are number one priority.

What are your nearest touring plans? What countries do you plan to visit?

As I’ve said, we just got through Europe and Australia. In the end of June we’re doing like a brief run in the United States. Then we’re going to Europe for the festival season: four festivals in July, two festivals in August. And our big Euro-tour is October and November, hopefully we will be then coming to Russia (as we were talking, the Russian dates had not been announced, but now they are: November 6 in Moscow and November 7 in St. Petersburg – ed.).

Wow, that’s gonna be awesome! We are looking forward to see you here. So now I think it’s time for more general and serious questions. The first of them is gonna be the following – almost ten years after leaving Manowar you were not involved into big metal scene and then you returned. What was the actual reason? I know about the “Keep it True” festival and all this stuff…

Well, I was asked to leave Manowar in 1988 and after that… let’s see: I got married, my son was born in 1991, The Dictators started playing again, started touring Europe, started playing all over, I had another band called The Spinatras, I had another band called Heyday, both made records but they weren’t metal. After those two records, “Earthshaker” was in 2005 with Manowar, and I started doing the metal scene for real again. Here’s where we are.

So the “Earthshaker” fest was like the first step towards you returning…

Yeah. It got a lot of interest, everybody said, “Ross, you gotta play that old Manowar, it’s the best period of Manowar, it’s immortal, those six records, they’ve never been topped, you can play it!”. I said, “Okay” and we started playing it.

You’ve just said that you were asked to leave Manowar. As far as I know, Mr. Joey DeMaio has another story. So please tell your point of view here.

My story is the correct story.

Could you please expand on it?

When “Kings of Metal” came out…I mean, we were getting along, we had our differences, blah blah blah, but every married couple, every partnership has their differences, you know. These things are gonna happen and I think, what he wanted to do is I think that he didn’t want a partner anymore. He wanted to control the whole operation, he wanted to control everything including the money. Instead of having a partner, a 50% partner – you know, we were equal partners in the band, we created a band together – I think, he thought it would be better that Ross wasn’t there anymore. And so, Ross wasn’t there anymore.

I see. There is another ex-Manowar member who is unfortunately not there anymore, I mean Scott Columbus (drums). I know that you were quite close to him. And the cause of his death is still a mystery to me. Maybe you can shed some light on it because in fact he was not old and it was very unexpected and tragic for all of us…

It was tragic for me too. As you know, I took him on in my band, I took him on tour and people wanted to see him. Scott wanted to play real drums, he didn’t want to play fake drums. You know, Joey made him play the fake drums. And I said, “Scott! If you come out with me you can play real drums and you and Marty could play drums together on stage”. And we had a couple of shows, we had like three of four festivals, we did Bloodstock. And the last show he played with us was Jalometalli in Finland. Scott had a lot of problems, he had problems with alcohol and drugs and he just couldn’t beat them, he just couldn’t beat his addictions and his devils. I’m afraid, he took his own life, my friend.

Oh, that’s very sad to hear… But still he is on the first classical records which, as your said, will never be topped by anyone and Manowar themselves. So he is part of the history of the band.

Pretty bad, isn’t it?

Yeah… It’s quite a sad story.

It is. A tragedy.

Let us talk about more living matters. I know that you toured with a Manowar set during the previous year. The question is – didn’t you have any issues with Manowar concerning this matter?

No. I’m allowed to play my music whenever I want to. I haven’t heard one thing from Manowar, so I think it’s ok.

That’s fine. And are you satisfied with fan reception to this Manowar tour program you did?

Yeah, it was an incredible reaction. It’s been an amazing reaction, especially people hearing these songs, the way they were recorded, they weren’t hearing these songs tuned down. You know, if you tune something down, you lose all the energy. The songs weren’t written tuned down, the songs were written in the standard key that I play them in. We also don’t take any downtime, there’s no speeches, there’s no solos, there’s no nothing – there’s just straight playing right through. As soon as we hit the stage, people are like blown away. We just played four shows in Australia four weeks ago, and Manowar had never been to Australia. Manowar never played Australia. So the first time they saw any Manowar music was from me. People were totally blown away, like you wouldn’t believe, we had such a great time, and the response has been great. Of course, the last tour we started playing our new songs and the response is also great. I think, everything is in a really good spot.

Yes, I’m also very interested in hearing your new material from “By Blood Sworn” in Russia, that would be awesome.

We can’t wait to come.

Ok, so see you here in St. Petersburg, because I’m from St. Petersburg.

Did you see it when the Metal Allstars played here?

Well, unfortunately, no. But it’s one of my questions –how was the show, what can you say about St. Petersburg?

The Metal Allstars tour was great! It was really cool. Everybody showed up, everybody came up for the shows, everybody came up for the metal. Death Dealer was opening up, I opened up for myself. (laughs) It was great!

Yeah, it was a pity that I had no opportunity to visit it. Now it’s time for so called history lessons because I am also administrating the biggest Manowar community in Russian social networks and we prepared a bunch of questions for you, if you don’t mind. So let me begin with the first one. Manowar early albums, especially “Battle Hymns” are a bit raw, as you just mentioned, you were unhappy with some recording stuff you did there. So the question is – did you improvise while recording the solos or was every note well thought-out?

Well, that’s a great question! I play everything… Once I have a form for the solo, once I have like a body, a model, I pretty much go with that. I don’t play every note exactly the way it is, I never have. Whatever I’m feeling at the time, I mean, it’s not totally scripted out for me. I have definite lines that I play in the solos, but I play what I feel.

So, there’s always a place for improvising…

Yeah.

The question now comes directly from me because I also play guitar and I enjoyed your “Ross the Boss Guitar Clinic” videos a lot. Do you still do any master classes or may be teach the guitar?

I have a few students I teach to. I don’t do these master classes anymore. I think that master class at “Earthshaker” was just something I wanted to do, I wanted to show people how I go about things. I think people liked it. But I haven’t done anything like that for a while.

I know that some years ago you came to Russia with a guitar clinic if I’m not mistaken.

Yeah, I think I came to Russia earlier and played with some Russian musicians.

Could you tell us anything about this experience, this visit to Russia and Russian musicians you played with?

That was really very good. I didn’t know really what it was gonna be like, because people said, “We have the band, we know all the music, you should just come, and it will be great, it will be one big party, we’ll have a party for you”. I said, “Oh, party? OK, I can do that. There’s no problem with that”. That first time everyone was lovely. The band was great, the musicians were really good, the singer was really good, the place was packed… I mean, it was a great experience.

Cool! Maybe some day you will return to Russia with some master classes…

Well, I’m gonna return in the fall with a real master class! (laughs)

Another history-related question is about the sword with the winged guard, which is one of the symbols of Manowar. People are wondering what the origin of this sword is, and who invented it.

We got those swords on our first record. We had them made, they’re from real swords, they’re kind of taken from the Roman short sword.

Do you still have one at home?

I don’t have mine, I think they’re all at the Manowar museum.

Oh, do they have a museum?

The Manowar museum, yeah, where they have all their stuff, all their clothes and everything…

My next question is about the typical Manowar gesture – one hand holding the other’s clenched fist. Who invented it – the band or the fans?

The Manowar salute was invented by Paul Cork Sr. He was a friend to the band, and he came up with that. Ever since it’s been the Manowar salute.

One final history related question is about the tour Manowar did with Thor in the beginning of its career. This Canadian guy was a bodybuilder and he did some funny stuff on stage. Do you remember anything about this tour? Any funny stories maybe?

I was friends with those guys, I knew the guitar player, Steve (Price), and Thor was a cool guy. We didn’t do a whole tour with them, we just did, I think, a couple of dates. He had a thing, he would rip telephone books in half, he had a hot water bottle, and he would blow it up – I mean, there was a little pinprick in it, and it was sure to blow… I mean, he’s a cool guy, we really liked him. He’s still around, he does his thing, he’s still a good guy.

Were there any other memorable tours with other bands?

Well, we didn’t have a lot of tours with other bands, because no one really wanted to play with us. No one really wanted anything to do with Manowar, because we were just too… well, we were too much for them. We were offered to tour with Whitesnake in the beginning of the band’s career, but Whitesnake insisted that we would tour without our denims and leather outfits, and we said, “No way!” No one really wanted much to do with Manowar. Motorhead played with us a lot of times…

And a few shows with Dio.

Yeah, but I was gone by then.

Now a question which all of the Manowar fans are concerned with. Manowar are planning a final tour – is there a chance that we will see you on stage with them?

Well, I’ve been asked that a lot, and you know what I’m gonna say? I’m here, everyone knows where I am, Eric knows my phone number. I’m just gonna tell you I don’t think that’s ever gonna happen, but I wouldn’t mind it. You never know. But I would say: don’t lose sleep guys, I think Joey’s gonna do his own thing, and I’m gonna do my thing, and I wish the best for everybody.

What do you personally think about this “Final Tour”? Is it the right time to call it quits for Manowar, or should they have ended their story much earlier?

I think any band that says it’s their final tour are full of shit. Honestly I think their final tour can go on for 5-6 years. You never know, they might be saying it’s over, but I’m saying I don’t think it’s over. I think it’s a bunch of bullshit. I think it’s something to get fans in, and get them paying the money. Look who said it – Scorpions said they were quitting, Kiss said they were quitting, Journey said they were quitting, ZZ Top said they were quitting, blah blah blah… We’ll see what happens.

I think I’m running out of questions, so please say something inspiring to your fans here in Russia who are looking forward for you to come.

Well, I’d like to thank everybody for your support. You’re gonna see us, we’re trying to get to Russia in November. I think it’s gonna be fantastic when we come. We’ll play definitely the new record and, of course, the classic Manowar songs that everyone wants to hear, and everybody should come out that day to the show because that’s gonna be amazing. We’ll blow the place apart, guaranteed!

Ross The Boss on the Internet: http://www.ross-the-boss.com

Special thanks to Irina Ivanova (AFM Records) for arranging this interview and for sharing the promo pic, and to the VK community “Manowar – Born to live forevermore!” (https://vk.com/club3673) for contributing some of the questions

Interview by Pavel Vlasov
Live photos by Olga Yuryevna
May 28, 2018
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