An Interview with Stet Howland, the Rock/Metal Drummer (ex-WASP), now of Temple of Brutality (with Dave Ellefson - ex-Megadeth) at Fort Myers, Fl on 11th May, 2006

Pictured with Stet Howland at a cool resort in Fort Myers

Glenn: What made you decide to come and live in Florida?

Stet: Well it was Rickey Medlocke, I was playing in Blackfoot and Rickey has a studio here and this is where his base is. He suggested the band members move down here so we can work out a record and rehearse and all that and I just fell in love with Fort Myers Beach here - the little island and I've been here ever since.

Glenn: What parts of Fort Myers do you like best that stand out?

Stet: I like the beach the best by far, Fort Myers Beach.

Glenn: The white sand?

Stet: Yeah, the white sand and the little beachfront bars and all that stuff and all the little shops and they're really making it a lot nicer all the time.

Glenn: And yo've got some good bands here.

Stet: And the bands are rockin' yeah. You know I'm sitting around with Roger Lotring (Metal Edge) and his wife and we were looking at the sandpaper (local guide) and it was Monday night and there was like 12 or 17 acts playing on the beach. There's over a dozen live acts so if you wanna go to Karaoke or see a band, there's probably 6 or 8 actual bands playing and I'm talking within a 1 mile radius. And that, that's a fun musical environment man and it's great for being a wash too - you can stumble around and ruin yourself. It's such a, you know? And there's hotels everywhere and I just happen to live walking distance so it's real fun for me - as you well know.

Glenn: Yep. (We both laugh). What orginally influenced you to play the drums?

Stet: Buddy Rich was my first big influence, one of the best Jazz drummers, Big Band and Ian Paice -Ian Paice from Deep Purple is like amazing and a big one was Neil Peart (Rush) and Carmine Appice and I also grew to love his brother Vinnie. There's a couple of parts of the Temple (of Brutality) stuff that when we were recording I think of him, when I'm playing. I'm thinking of that Vinnie Appice 2/4 Kick Ass solid band down Dio beat. There's a lot of guys.

Glenn: There must be certain things that have stood out to you as far as drummers that have drawn you into their sound - the power and the style and how they play that's really got you.

Stet: Well I mean at first it was the stuff like what they were doing it seemed so incredible and on the beat like a machine and I couldn't figure out. There was a point in my life when I was a kid and I just couldn't figure out what the hell they were doing. And then as I got a little older I figured out what they were doing but I couldn't do it yet. Then when I found I could do it all, then I had to figure the fact that I didn't think it all up so I gotta go find my own original style. I probably shouldn't have left Keith Moon out of that because he was a big influence as well. But it's jut like yoou know, you take out little pieces of all these guys and then you go off and try and forget about them. You know what I mean?

Glenn: Yeah.

Stet: Then develop your own style and then when I was back with myself I start hearing, I hear influences from old Heart - they had a drummer called Michael Derogeir that was just amazing and it's just like, you don't know what's gonna pour out of you - you got all this input coming into you all over your whole life and then all of a sudden someone plays a guitar riff and you play what you feel. You can't really... you don't think 'that's that same riff from that Heart song in 1973 or something' - it's just like it's me, it's what I'm feeling and that's just what I hear.

Glenn: Are there certain songs that stand out to you and you've said to yoursef, 'God, I like that drum pattern'?

Stet: Oh of course yeah, and now even more so. I mean yeah, there's some great stuff going on right now - drumming is really coming through a new high. I mean it's at an all-time high if you ask me musically. I was on the road with some of the newer bands and all the drummers were at least excellent. I mean really it was pretty wild. In the old days, no disrespect to anybody but there was always at least a f*ck*n' hacker along but you still loved 'em- you know what I mean.

Glenn: Yeah. Not because they were that good as a player but because they were a buddy.

Stet: You're right.

Glenn: What drummers are you listening to now? What gets you going?

Stet: Well it's funny because I haven't over the last recent years I haven't listened to drummers, I've been listening to bands and I kind of like fell in love with this Audioslave and I've always been a fan of this band 'Saliva' that has its peaks and I don't exactly know where they they are right now but I met 'em when they were in LA when they were ding their first record and they were really nice guys and then I heard their stuff and was like 'My God, this is kick ass' and then I just bought the record just to be supportive and that thing lives in my CD like a long time - like a couple of months - like Audioslave - same thing and right now I'm not a big CD player guy, I'm not there. I throw on the radio right now and go and see live stuff. The most recent stuff that I've seen that I thought was cool was Arch Enemy, Chimaira, God Forbid and Hate Eternal.

Glenn: I've seen 'God Forbid' at The Corporation, Sheffield - that big black frontman they've got - unbelievable.

Stet: I was blown away. We did half a dozen dates with 'em last week and it was great. All the bands were awesome. The drummers were kick ass - it really was ridiculous to tell you the truth.

Glenn: What was the first drum kit you got?

Stet: A red sparkle tint 4 piece jazz kit my grandmother bought for me for my 9th birthday. I'll never forget the thing. I actually bought it back when I was 17. It was a playable drumkit - yeah, I remember it vividly and it sounded pretty good too. I don't know how good I was at the time (laughs) but hopefully I got better.

Glenn: Everyone starts somewhere I guess and they get better.

Stet: Yeah. I played along to records like everybody else and once you figure how to do it without them skipping. (We laugh) Know what I mean?

Glenn: Yeah.

Stet: I go through that with a cd player sometimes.

Glenn: Would you say that you've got a favourite kit?

Stet: Yeah. Unquestionably I got a favourite kit. My black DW kit, the twin that I've been using o the kit with WASP for the last 6-8 years. It's in storage in LA. I have others but I don't talk about 'em (laughs). I got other stuff that I ain't ashamed. I got a Pearl kit that I got in '88 used in the Palateri video and I did 'The Crimson Idol' and it's a pretty classic kit. I'm gonna hang on to it for a pretty long time and then maybe auction it off for some charity or something when things go a little better.

Glenn: Are the sort of guy that would go out and buy a kit that was owned by say John Bonham, Keith Moon or Ringo Starr or whoever?

Stet: No No, I se its value but I haven't gotten into collecting. What I like to do is find cool drum kits cheap for certain purposes. Lat night you were out and I did my gig and I had my nice DW kit out there on the beach rockin' and rollin' and there's a lot cheaper kits you can bring out to the beach but I don't have any.

Glenn: What sticks do you usually use?

Stet: I use the same stick. I got the Vic Firth 3s's and they are monsters. They are the biggest marching stick and I use when whenever and wherever - that's what I play with. I don't go to a lighter guage unless I was playing in church or something I probably would. I have enough control and I can play lightly with my huge sticks and then they actually help. People often ask me, "How can you play with such huge sticks?" but with the power of the music I play, it's not like I play a 2/4 beat a lot and no matter what I do I am always overplaying and I know that.

I just saw some thing there was a guy that thought he was in WASP for a minute, Larry Howe and he said something about I played like Terry Bozzio on steroids. (We laugh) And I took that as a compliment. I know it was a semi-slag but I think it was pretty funny. So I never really stop you know, so I use the momentum of the big stick to keep me rolling. It sounds crazy but when you get those things rolling man they keep going and I've been practising with 'em an awfully long time so I don't feel they slow me down as I haven't found myself needing extra speed for anything I've been doing. Then again I'm not Chimaira. (laughs). Working his ass off all night man.

Glenn: It's like the night after and you're like 'They do that !!'

Stet: And yeah, I know what he's up to. I didn't get to talk to that guy but if any of are out there, go and check out Chimaira's drummer - he is whip-ass !

Glenn: This is a crackpot question I must ask you.

Stet: Let's do it.

Glenn: Do you have favourite stool?

Stet: Favourite stool? Oh drum stool throne as we call it?

Glenn: Yeah.

Stet: Yeah. I got... DW makes these big ass heavy duty stools - cushions my ass perfectly in all situations. Yeah I got the big old DW stool and I think they make a bunch of different kinds but I just get the big one for my big ass and it feels great. I stand up a bit when I'm playing so I am up and down to keep my legs from falling asleep.

(We Laugh)

Stet: Sad Excuse (he says jokingly).

Glenn: Yeah. Did you come from a musical family?

Stet: Yeah. Actually my mother sang - my mother was a singer. She was always in shows and stuff when I was a kid so I was around that stuff. I always like the presentations - shows were always fun to me - puttin' together - you know a proper band is a show. So the fun bands just jam music, a proper band puts on a show withan intro tape from the front to the end in my opinion. It's like now I'm touring, I always did the make-up costume thing for years with WASP and now with Temple (of Brutality) we're just loading, we're casual - there's no make-up but there's still the show presentation thing because I just can't stand it any other way. I'm not gonna go up there and be like 'Hey man, I'm the only one playing' I'm not gonna be up there and chat between songs, I ain't gonna get that loose in a professional situation.

Now when we are down at the bar at the beach watching the sunset with 2 or 3 hundred of our friends drinking some drinks or jamming whatever and getting buddies up to jam then I don't give a f*ck , we can have a conference between every song, you know what I mean. But when people pay a ticket price they gotta see that you are putting on a full effort and that's my feelings.

(We laugh)

Oh sh*t, what else you got for me killer?

Glenn: What was it like growing up in Conneticut?

Stet: With regard to growing up and playing?

Glenn: Yeah.

Stet: It was the most amazing time. One of the most amazing times in my life and I just didn't know it because my band 'Run 21' - I had just set up an amazing band from New England. We just used to rule man, talking about presentation we had the intro tape, the outro tape and back then we had fog, flames, explosions and CO2. Sh*t man, we had 2 trucks - it was amazing. Back then the drinking age was a little different and we used to do 600-800 on an off night, a thousand to 1200 to 1500 on a good weekend night and we thought that was pretty good at the time but we didn't know that in 20 years time that would be better than your medium scale national act. So it was a great time - we had a great time going up and down the East Coast raising utter hell and rock 'n' rollin' and puttin' on a good show.

Glenn: Is it a nice place to live Conneticut?

Stet: Absolutely beautiful. I mean I lived in Conneticut and still have a place in Cape Cod which is a little more east but that whole area New England is beautiful - especially in the Summer it's all so grand and fresh and it's always Summer down here (in Fort Myers, Fl) but in New England the Summers are so much sweeter because they are shorter.

Glenn: And you appreciate them because you don't know how long they are gonna last for, whereas here it's just another day isn't it?

Stet: Well you know it's funny because I still bust my friends balls who live back there because Oh man we wait ten weeks for friggin' good weather (in New England) whereas down here it's like Summer everyday man and LA too. It's just that down here you get more for your buck propertywise here than LA.

Glenn: Is that because LA is more of a tourist sort of a spot?

Stet: Right.

Glenn: And down here it's like...

Stet: Well everyone's just started to figure out about here right now. I mean there's only 2 ways to go if you are looking for green, green grass every day of the year - it's either out west or it's down in Florida. That's basically the way it is.

Glenn: Who've you enjoyed playing with most and why?

Stet: Well I've enjoyed god... (thinks for a moment) obviously the whole WASP experience is something that... well I've just talked to Darrell - the ex-guitar player who's just left the band and we were just sharing faith, you know what I mean, and it was just an amazing thing to behold of for like 16 years for me. So the WASP thing was pretty amazing - we had our ups and downs but even the downs were so awesome - that's the bottom line with that band. But my band Run 21 it was absolutely like Van Halen and (Frank) Zappa put together - it was f*ck*n' amazing man.

I'm totally into the Temple of Brutality, my band right now. I'm at the stage where right now, without sounding gay I am in love with band. It's like I really love 'em and we have a great thing and good things happen every day and we can count on each other, we trust each other and it's f*ck*ng cool but there's so many cool players I have played with over the years.

Chris Impelleteri gave me my start in Hollywood in the real business back in '88 and for him I am forever in Debt. He is an amzing player and we did a great thing. During which Chuck Wright played Bass for a while, Chuckles is full of sh*t as the day is long and I love him for it - oh he's a great guy - love him. After that David B Spitch came in, and he's probably one of the finest bass players to ever pick a bass up and I can jut go on and on. Phil Wolfe the keyboard player was awesome - there was noone that I didn't like playing with because if I didn't like 'em I'd quit. (Laughs) I had this band Big Richard which was really cool and we got offered a huge deal and we didn't take it becaue we heard somebody else got a bigger deal. It's that we were idiots. I had this band 'Clam Nation' that was really f*ck*n' cool in LA and then god man... but the WASP thing was great. Yeah I guess overall I've done more with WASP obviously than anything else. We've done all sorts of MTV, Upside Down and Out, Top of the Pops, Anaheims.. Sh*t man, we've done some great stuff. We've done some good records. We've done some good records that people don't like that much - f*ck it, we're tryin', we're enjoying just to do good and I had some real good times in that band too but Blackie's awesome - he was a mentor for sure and a good friend over the years. Chris Holmes is still a good friend of mine.

Glenn: I've not had chance to see Chris Holmes yet - it's like he's vanished.

Stet: Well whenever I go to LA I aways see Chris. I never miss him and every 3 or 4 months I am out there. Johnny Rob was awesome - he's a frikkin' nutcase and he's a great player and I'm missing my band Run 21 - Run 21 is Jimmy Oxo Carter, Doug Blair who was also in WASP a couple of times and myself. So there's little cross-sections and I'll probably forget and I'm sure somebody
is gonna read this and go, "What the f*ck man, I thought we were friends", you know, but I like everybody I play with.

Glenn: How did it come about playng with Joey Belladonna?

Stet: Well Pierre in Temple of Brutality, Peter, we'd been doing records for few years - a couple of Scream records with him and hooked up with Joey and was gonna do a record with Joey and my name came up and everybody was like 'Yeah, I like that drummer' and it was all you know, everybody at the same time said cool and that usually gets you the phone ringing. Pierre went and called me and told me about that conversation and I'm like "F*ck Yeah". Me and Joey were like old friends - I just hadn't seen him in like 10 years.

Glenn: How did you meet up with Joey, was it just through the circuit?

Stet: Yeah.

Glenn: Joey seems a nice guy.

Stet: Oh Joey's awesome man. We did the record at his house, we went up there and I spent about 10 to 12 days up there and it was great experience. Joey and I are great friends. He came out and did some WASP dates with us on one of the last runs then we buddied up and hung out and had a great time together and his band guys are real good - good guys too. It was a good experience but I see a lot more CD's floating around than I see royalty cheques going in my f*ck*n' mailbox I'll tell ya that. But isn't this a wonderful business (laughs). I live and learn - it is not a big deal. But er yeah - god-damn it, it's not a big f*ckin' deal (laughs).

Glenn: You've played in so many bands and I don't wanna draw on the WASP thing or anything but would say there's certain songs that you've enjoyed playing more that others and why would certain ones stand out?

Stet: Well - well that's pretty good because for a guy that's just left the band I keep referring back - f*ck it, 'Love Machine' was always one of my favourite songs and I know it's stupid but I just always loved that song and I always had a thrill playing - always, I mean the last time we played it I still had a thrill - I like that stupid song. (We laugh). I mean, there's a lot of stuff but yeah that's a good one. The 1st thing you think is don't say that, don't say that and then it's already out of your mouth. Yeah, there ya go, that's kind of one but there's a bunch. My Run 21 songs were always cool songs, I mean we had this one song 'Baby, it's your face' - it's like 'if there's one thing I hate, it's like baby, baby, baby, it's your face' and it's really good. I mean that whole band is so fun I mean, I was sitting with my buddy Roger (Lotring) the other night - he works over at Metal Edge ad he's like a huge Run 21 fan I guess. He's like 'Goddamn it, you gotta do something with those guys' and I have talked to them and we are gonna get together and do something.

Glenn: Nice One

Stet: Yeah it’s fun to reach into good old stuff.

Glenn: And get you and Roger have been big buddies for years.

Stet: Yeah. Stuff like that doesn’t go away. It’s like riding a bicycle pretty much.

Glenn: Got ya. Certain gigs. It doesn’t matter what band it is but have certain gigs stood out against other gigs and why have they stood out?

Stet: You know every time I keep going back to the same thing. I mean how do I try and tell you that Donington and Mannheim were the most amazing f*ck*ng thing in the world. I will say that probably one of my most favourite gigs in the history of my career was recently my last birthday in Spain with quess who? I’ll give you one f*ck*n’ guess who it was - yeah that’s right WASP.

(We laugh)

Not that this is a bad thing but it was my birthday in Spain at this festival and Tim (Ripper Owens) from Beyond Fear had played already and they were hanging out and during our set Blackie said ‘Happy Birthday’ to me and got the crowd to sing along, you know, ‘The Happy Birthday Song’ for me and that was really cool because he doesn’t do that sh*t. Then after we’re done I was side-stage and with a bunch of drinks and some food and stuff and Accept went on after us. So I’m sat there having a birthday party side-stage while Accept is playing ‘Balls to the Wall’ and then all those guys with me and the Ripper and Duda and Darrell all drunk and all singing along, oh my god and eating cake and stuff – it was frikkin’ great. I didn’t have cake – I just threw that in there.

(We laugh)

Absolutely sh*tfaced – I guarantee that cos I remember. So that was my favourite gig. Probably one of my favourite gigs ever because it was 30,000 people. Everyone was singing along to our songs and singing me ‘Happy Birthday’ then we got hammered side through watching Accept who were f*ck*ng amazing by the way – they were really good.

Glenn: Udo’s voice is still there?

Stet: Oh my god. And the band is here. And their guitar player ‘Wolf Meir’ was amazing. The drummer was great. The whole frikkin’ band ws right on and yeah, his voice is right there man. It was fun and then we all went back in the same shuttle van and I’ll never forget because it me and my crew guys and Ripper and his guys and we’re sat in the back and these guys are going nuts throwing beer all over each other and sh*t. It was all just a mess here and we are trying to control our guys and we finally get to the hotel and (starts laughing)the driver turns the light on and turns around and looks and the f*ck*ng thing was a wreck and I swear to god, an inch of beer (on the floor) – it was absolutely – there was beer, f*ck*ng cans and sh*t everywhere and the guy, he just fell to his head and I just died. I just walked out there and said, “It’ll be alright man” because I knew I was leaving the country in a bout 4 hours. But… oh man, that was my favourite gig. It’s not ever in recent times. I mean stuff like Donington and that Mannheim - 140,000 people – you get 140,000 people singing ‘I wanna be somebody’ – it’s pretty f*ck*n’ fun – you can sit there and hit that kick drum like all night.

Glenn: You had no p*ss thrown at you at Donington or anything like that?

Stet: Oh no – none of that – they were linking us pretty good at Donington. It was going well. I got the video – I’ve seen it a thousand times.

Glenn: Well I’ve got the audio tape but I’ve never seen the video.

Stet: Well it’s more fun if you watch it. Bit no, we was good, we were good that day it was good but it was cool for me because I ended up the cameras on Blackie and I’m like in the background so I ended up getting a whole bunch of like notice out of it. Some good things happened after that. They re-ran it on MTV and stuff and all of a sudden I started getting other offers to do other records and stuff and I thought, ‘Oh this is cool’. I always tried to not do stuff that would step on the toes of my own band. I tried to be respectful about it. I think I did pretty good over the years considering the older I am, I am doing at least a couple of records a year outside of whatever band I was in.

Glenn: WASP. You got me at it.

Stet: (Laughs) I got you now!! F*ck*n’ Wasped up oh. It’s not like, it’s not a bad word.

Glenn: No.

Stet: No, everything’s good man.

Glenn: Is that what WASP stands for ‘We are sexually perverted’?

Stet: We All Smoke Pot

(I laugh)

No I ain’t gonna give away the mystique man – nothing takes away the takes fun away more than someone validating it.

Glenn: ‘We all smoke pot’ sounds cool.

Stet: Well Wally our security guy who was (Iron) Maiden’s security guy who I love dearly, he made that up but I don’t think many of did at the time.

Glenn: I could just imagine Blackie doing a psychedelic thing with Cheech and Chong singing ‘We all smoke pot’ – no actually I can’t see him going for that.

Stet: No.

Glenn: Too serious for that. Anyway I bet you’ve got loads of tour and road stories but you’ve kind of already answered that with the favourite gigs question.

Stet: Well I could bore you to death forever – that thing’s (Dictaphone) gonna wear out.

Glenn: Everyone says that, that they could tell you about ‘em until the cows come home.

Stet: Well when people ask you about road stories you think what the hell dare you tell. (Laughs)

Glenn: Exactly because you don’t want some guy in a band saying ‘You shouldn’t have said that.

Stet: Well let me tell ya, there’s some people in this business that don’t give a f*ck and I’m definitely one of them. I’m not really worried about hurting someone’s feelings so much, I have no want to insult anybody but I don’t give a sh*t. If they’re gonna cry then they are little cissies anyway but any of road stories would make anyone mad I don’t think. I don’t really spread around too much negative stuff. I have so much f*ck*n’ fun out there. The last tour we did, we had LA Guns, (Stephen) Pearcy and Metal Church all us guys and it was so fun everyday, we’d be rootin’ because the Metal Church guys had a motorhome just packed out with people and a huge trailer. It was like, the thing is breaking down over here and everytime we’d see them pull in it’d be like ‘Yeah’. We always wanted to see them play. It was just cool. It was a good tour having them on that tour. I’ve done a lot of tours and that was a really nice feeling because after a bit me and Steve Riley got to be good buddies.

Glenn: I know and he’s the before and you’re the after (as WASP drummers)in that respect.

Stet: Yeah, yeah. He’s just an A+ human I just love them. All those guys are just great guys and Phil is a fellow wine-drinker so we turned into the Rockmore’s. I don’t feel any re-occuring basis but nice people, great guys and in the whole Pearcy camp those guys are great. Like I’ve said many times recently I think Metal Church are one of the best bands and I think they are frikkin’ amazing. So I always looked forward to that set everynight. Then I’d be there trying to get ready and Pearcy and the (LA) Guns would flip-flop and I’d be trying to get ready and I’d hear a song like ‘Wanted Man’ that I just can’t stand so I just had to go outside and hold a towel on. It’s the same with the LA Guns – they got some stuff that I just love so I try to get ready and I hear stuff. I try not to be standing in te wings like a little fan but I couldn’t help it – I did it on a nightly basis. It was pretty cool.

Here’s something. It was kinda funny that happened on the last tour. Blackie locked himself in a bathroom (I laugh) and the intro was running and we really were trying to get him out and I have a video of it – that’s the funny part. There’s something wrong with the camera because it made it look like I had a bald-spot on the back of my head but no kiddin’ – that was a joke. Yeah it was great man, where the hell where we – it was like Hallen, Estonia – some frikkin’ place and there was a huge crowd and he goes to the bathroom to get ready to take a p*ss or something and the f*ck*n’ doorknob came off the pin. We got him out but it real, it was funny. Well that’s not a great story but…

Glenn: So it was like on-stage, “Sorry we’re late, we had technical difficulties’. I can just imagine Blackie coming on-stage and saying, “Sorry I got locked in the bathroom’.

Stet: I remember playing a huge hall – I don’t exactly remember where we were but we were over your way (UK)and it was one of those big huge theatres packed with people, the intro’s running, the f*ck*ng guy’s ringing us. The dressing rooms are round the back so we go underneath the building and we are lost. I mean, we were lost man and I think we might have just made it but that’s a crack when you’re going on some filthy friggin’ cellar and the guy doesn’t know where he is.

You know something that’s weird is that when we pull into London it has kind of a home feel to it because we’ve spent time off there over the years and it’s so weird. We were coming home from Moscow and we were coming into Heathrow as you’re flying over London I got a warm feeling like it has a little homely feel to me. A lot of English are the same – I’m like half English and it’s weird to think this is so far from my real home for it to feel like home so it shows you how f*ck*d up you are.

Glenn: Yeah. Whereabouts are you from in England?

Stet: I dunno. I truly don’t. I probably should have followed up a little better.

Glenn: Yeah – I never realized that.

Stet: Yeah. English and Italian.

Glenn: Yeah. How did ‘Temple of Brutality’ come to be?

Stet: Oh, ‘Temple of Brutality’ came to be… Well 2 or 3 years ago Peter and I demoed out this stuff. We were aware of Todd the singer. We’d be having him on the line for years – the kid’s just amazing. He’s an absolute amazing human being and he’s a great… he’s good and when I heard him sing, we demoed the stuff out and I heard what he did to it and I died laughing. We did this song ‘You’re already dead’ which is in ‘Waking Up Dead’s’ movie soundtrack. ‘We’re already dead’ and the kid just goes nuts and it’s great.

We demoed it out and then nothin’, nothin’, nothin’ and I got to WASP and I get home from WASP and Peter come by my house and says ‘Temple of Brutality, we have a deal’ and like ‘Pat D. Neilson’s doing bass, do you wanna do the record’ and I’m like ‘Yeah and it’s like even split”, he says, ‘Even Split – 4 way like Van Halen’ and I’m like, “It’s f*ck*n’ awesome, let’s do it man”. I didn’t even talk about money upfront or guarantees because if it’s an even split and we are doing the record here in town – what have you got to lose? And I knew the material already, most of it and I knew the people well and were all professionals.

I guess it was gonna be a good experience and I gotta tell ya that I have done a lot of records and this was unquestionably the smoothest, recording session I’ve ever done in my life. The way we did it was completely different to anything I’ve ever done. Firstly we built every song on a daily basis, I came in on the morning, I do the drums then we lay down the bass or whatever order we were doing it in but by the end of the day Peter was doing leads and the vocals were done. It was amazing, so we built the song on a daily basis and it was pretty crazy. Then we sent it out to get mixed and it came out pretty f*ck*n’ good. So basically Peter started the whole thing and it was made easy to do so I was immediately happy to be part of it.

If anything happened we all had the same to win or lose. It was financed and it was in a proper studio – this guy Greg Kinko and I just bumped into him yesterday, an amazing engineer and really was a great experience, really great. Our Executive Producer, Carl Verldstrum, he co-ordinated everything for us and it was flawless, seamless and totally professional and me and Dave (Ellefson) just happened, you know I knew I would get on with Pierre when I met Todd, loved him, he’s like my brother I didn’t have yet. Then Ellefson came in and he was just a constant professional. Our fields just happened to lock in perfectly and we were about the same age so we were thinking alike. We’d been through similar stuff. I’ll admit he sold more records – no qualms about that but we both lived the life and walked the walk so we see eye to eye on a lot of issues which is really cool and he’s sober, I respect that – he’s really got it together man. It’s a pretty professional camp and everyone really gets along and we respect each other and I can’t wait to see what happens. Everyday it’s something cool and new, you know? It’s awesome.

Glenn: Yeah. Are there certain songs that you really like?

Stet: One of my favourite songs is called ‘Built to Last’. It’s just heavy. There’s some good stuff – ‘The Hammer’ is good, heavy - you know, ‘Already Dead’ just beats ass – it’s frikkin’ great. It’s just a good powerful record, with no disrespect to that of the past, it’s by far the heaviest thing I’ve done. I mean it makes everything else I’ve done almost kinda almost look like pop-rock. It’s heavy, I’m not saying as many people are gonna like it, I think we went in and just went nuts and captured it and whatever it is all people seem to be digging it so in output that I hear live it’s supposedly better. I can’t tell I’m way too f*ck*n’ busy up there. But yeah man, I’m fired up and I believe in my new thing and that’s the way it is. That’s the way it needs to be. If you are gonna do something, you might as well believe in it.

Glenn: And you’ve just got your deal sorted out !!

Stet: Yeah, while you’re sitting here I have been talking to the Booking Agents and Dave and Peter have been sorting the deal out back and forth and they are keeping me on the e-mail loop. I’m pretty well schooled and I have this book. It’s called ‘This Business Of Music’ which really has all the answers. If you have a grey area and you are trying to do your own business in this business, do yourself a favour and go and spend $35 on ‘This Business Of Music’ and it’ll answer your questions. It’s fit for someone that absolutely clueless. I mean, I’ve made mistakes before, I’ve not done things right because I go on the internet and get to see albums that I played on that I am not getting any money from.

Glenn: And that’s wrong.

Stet: And they are supposedly out of print but there they are. I’m lke ‘Alright’. It’s like how much effort are you gonna spend going backwards tracing non-hit record and you know if you keep making records then maybe you’ll have a hit record and you’ll at least make sure that you get the money for the records you are making now. So better than to make a dozen non-hit records that you are getting paid for than have anything that you are not getting paid for.

Glenn: It makes sense.

Stet: That’s the small record companies philosophies I guess from what I have heard.

Glenn: Are you allowed to say who you’ve signed with?

Stet: Well overseas our record company is Demolition Records and through the United States will be ‘Screaming Ferret Records’. Tim the main guy there is an old friend of mine and actually he came to us through Dave’s connections so it was kind of weird the way it all happened. So it just kind of seemed right and everyday’s great man even though we’re pushing US release back a little bit because the new label can have time to set it up properly. We’re using all the same people, we are really happy using all the same people that LA Guns and WASP and everybody has used – the good folks.

Glenn: As well as playing in the big bands on the big stages, I notice that you play with bar bands as well.

Stet: But for different reasons yeah. The bar thing is cool because I get to mess around and what happens is that I’ll end up doing 4 drum solos a night because this one guy will bring his buddy and say, ‘Hey you gotta see’ and then it’s “Have you just done your drum solo” and I’m like, “Yeah man, I just did it dude” and he’s like “Oh man, my buddies leaving for Ohio in the morning”. So I end up doing it again.

It’s great to sit there and play and watch the sunset while the people come off the beach. Everyone’s coming up to the bar, all sun-burned and happy and I’m thinking “Have a Pina Collada that’ll fix your sunburn”.

Glenn: What hobbies do you enjoy doing when you are not onstage?

Stet: Oh, one of hobbies is actually lucrative is Real Estate. I’ll buy, I’ll look for beat up resort properties that nobody wants and I’ll make the right deal on it and go and gut it completely through and remodel it, put renters in there and sell that property to investors. It’s really fun, I enjoy it, my wife’s my partner and I have a couple of people that I hire as extra help when I need it but that’s like one of my hobbies that’s real fun. I trade stock and I did real good at that until like recently (we laugh). But I did that stuff and I got my studio downstairs and I got a gym down there. I got the beach right here and we got bicycles and all sorts of sh*t. I try and do a little bit of everything on a daily basis. I’ve got my office in there (points to other room) and I’m coordinating my calendar trying to book some dates.

(At this moment Stet’s wife Christina brings us some coffee)

Glenn: So Stet, what’s your favourite coffee?

Stet: What’s my favourite coffee babe?

Christina: Dunkin Donuts.

Stet: Yeah, we got the original Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. Dave Ellefson has his own café in the RV. It’s like if you are waking up in the morning and you smell that coffee and you go, “Oh right Dave’s up man, cool’, so if I get up now I can probably sneak a cup of coffee out of him. So hot coffee is my favourite kind.

Glenn: So your recent taste of new bands are the ones that you’ve just toured with?

Stet: Yeah, we did that week with Arch Enemy, Chimaira and Hate Eternal and that’s my recent taste of new stuff and it was frikkin’ kick ass. I mean I was pretty impressed with their drumming all round and it was good. Not to throw favourites or anything but the kid, I think his name’s Daniel from Arch Enemy – man, smooth and the kid from Chimaira a frikkin’ monster too. I think he was a teacher before, I can probably see that. But there’s cool stuff. All those bands were doing some wild stuff and high, fast stuff and really to me it was like so fast that you couldn’t really… to me it was like so fast you couldn’t really by the time you are just about hearing one note before another one’s coming at you – there’s no way to distinguish how tight it is. You’re in a hall and it’s so washed up but Chimaira they busted the half time grooves and stuff and it was kinda cool so you could actually hear the air in between.

Glenn: If you could put your ultimate tour line-up together bandwise who would you have on there?

Stet: Well you know it’s funny cos someone I did mention earlier was Rickey Medlocke when I playedin Blackfoot for a while. Well he’s awdul good, frikkin’ amazing.

Glenn: Well for the touring line-up?

Stet: There’d be too many, I wouldn’t be able to pay ‘em all – I’d love to see, and we joked about it, I’d love to see something like Medlocke and Blackie on the same stage and jeese,so many other guys, like guitar players, (Chris) Holmes is a riot, he’s a handful but he’s awesome, Doug Weir’s probably one of the best guitar players ever – they are rock good. A lot of good guys, Mike Duda, he’s a great bass player or Jimmy Carter from Run 21. To put it this way, I didn’t have a best man at my wedding because I couldn’t figure what the f*ck to do – it’s like this is never gonna work. It’s like “Who’s your best friend?”, your best friend from when, now, ten years ago, when I was a kid? I can’t take that pressure – my plan man and I can’t make that decision.

Glenn: Do you hang out with quite a few different drummers quite a bit?

Stet: Oh yeah. I got a lot of drummer buddies. I keep going back but but it’s like Patrick Johannsen (Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s drummer), he’s my bro and he ended up doing that last WASP one basically because he called me up and we just happened to be chatting and it was like, “Dude man, it’s like less than a week away from the tour and you should f*ck*n’ call those guys. I guarantee they are not… together with a drummer” But yeah, I’ve been with them for 16 years and he ended up going out there. But yeah, he is my bro. Eric Singer is a good friend of mine. I got many drummer friends – people like Pat Torpey that I haven’t seen in like 15 years. We used to be buddies but on a daily basis I hang with my buddy Gary from Tribal Tongue and my buddy Doug Jefferson, he was the guy that sat in for me (when Stet did the last WASP Tour) – he’s a cool dude man – a good drummer. The greatest drummer around here is called Trimble McCullough – he’s an amazing drummer. We keep getting him to write a book – he’s like this monster jazz guy. The list goes on – it just depends where you are and I’ll buddy up with drummers. I mean, Nicko from Iron Maiden is just along the way, he’s over in West Palm area and we’ve hung out a couple of times. We judge a guitar/drum contest, I am one of the judges some times – so is Patrick. But it’s good – we talk about sh*t we’ll never do and see each other next year.

Glenn: But it’s down to schedules isn’t it.

Stet: Yeah, Patrick, I think he’s over now with Yngwie, I can’t keep control of everybody’s itenary in my brain.

Glenn: Yeah, he’s got another band called Prey as well – good band.

Stet: And I talked to him a month or two ago about his band doing a show or two with Temple…

Glenn: And the band go into melodic rock and all different styles.

Stet: I like that. Cool.

Glenn: When you meet your drummer buddies, do you set the kits up and do some tribal drumming and jam out because you hear about guitarists doing that but never about drummers?

Stet: You know it’s funny but prior to this run I was working on exactly that – looking for rhythms for songs and stuff because there is no rule for songwriting. It can start anywhere – sometimes it’s weird, sometimes it’s a guitar riff and at certain times it’s the bass riff and often at times it’s the drum riff. I’ve been working on that exact thing – that Tribal thing because out of everything I’ve ever done it’s been kind of heavy and there’s been a lot of drumming involved and then I went and shouted my mouth off about how this work in ‘Temple…’ is heavy and I’m thinking now with my mouth I’m gonna damn myself in the head and do something better and I’m already practicing to get ready now. It’s kind of the way it’s working. Without these kids flying all over the f*ck*ng place I gotta pay attention now. Ten years ago it was pretty easy to go out there with that but now there’s these f*ck*n’ monster kids everywhere. You gotta be on your game or you might get an ass-kickin’ that you didn’t expect. So that’s cool – I love that. I gotta tell you that when I was on my home from my last trip, I couldn’t wait to get home and put up my drums and practice because if I didn’t… (Laughs). What I did was slept for a couple days, set up my drums and went to my gig. It sure was fun.

Glenn: You’ve met so many people over the last 20 or 30 years but would you say there’s still people you’d love to play with, have a jam or just simply meet and why?

Stet: I’d probably kill myself to play 2112 with Rush. I’d lose my mind. I don’t know those guys, I’ve never met any of them. That’s almost like a childhood fantasy kind of thing. Bands like Journey are just like smokin’ and the rhythm sections are awesome but I meet the top of the list will most probably be Rush. I’d proper sh*t myself to sit in with those guys. I’d pay a negotiated sum if that could be arranged. Neil Peart’s just about at the top of the ladder. There’s a lot of good guys up there but he’s like extra special – not only is he just amazing but he is the creator of all that. Playing amazing stuff is cool. A lot of us can do that but when you’re creating well thought creative drum pieces with that opportune. I mean, I understand all the formula but put it in play and make it really work – he does it all day long and he’s writing the f*ck*n’ words with his other hand. So I’m happy to be up with the drum parts – thank-you that’s the day.

Glenn: What sorts of thing are you most proud of?

Stet: Well you can go a lot of places with that. I mean for a guy like me to start at 9 years old with a red sparkle drum kit and manage to work my way to a happy marriage. I mean, musically there’s been heights and stuff and seeing yourself on MTV for the 1st time is something that is indescribable. Stuff like that and then the millions and millions of good live shows over the years.

I remember the day my wife walked through the door at the gig I was playing. Once you know it, you know – I’m looking for her for years in the world with WASP – the big famous band and I put together “The Howling Dogs” and we used to kick ass. The place would be packed everytime we played. She walked in and it was like, “It is f*ck*n’ break time because I say so and If you have a problem with that then look at the kick drum – it say’s Howling Dogs – that’s me”. So we took a break and I went over and I put on my best and it worked – thank god.

So we are happily married now and to go from a little brat with a sparkly drum set and go through my whole life getting to play drums for a living – the whole time, whole time, whole time and being married and having a nice house here in Florida with a studio downstairs to do whatever and we got the touring rig outside and we got the motor home and a trailer already to go and I already got the backline gear in the trailer and I’m not talking a little TAMA amp I’m talking the four cabinets on each side – the Dave Ellefson sh*t. It’s cool stuff man, it’s cool and I’m excited man. So actually to live through all that stuff because I mean there was times where no-one would bet that I would ever make it to 40. I mean, I lived a stones throw away from the Rainbow Bar and Grille for years.

Glenn: And you knew Lemmy and everyone?

Stet: Yeah, Lemmy was my neighbour man. He’s great but to live through all that and come out still healthy somehow.

Glenn: I know, look at the casualties.

Stet: I know and I still got most of my sanity and to find someone to love that’ll love you back, a place to live with beautiful people everywhere. I mean now, everything on top of this is a gift. Now I’m blessed to have a new band that can appeal to a new audience and it’s already been tested we did those shows with Disturbed and the kids love it so I’m excited to have another chance at this business. I think it’s amazing. I am f*ck*ng thrilled.

Glenn: So to put it all in a nutshell, you are proud of being happy.

Stet: Yeah, you know there’s been rollercoasters man but I’m proud to be happy and continue in this insane business that we are somehow in. I mean this business wears you out from every aspect. It’s all I know. There’s this show called ‘Hogan knows best’ – he’s a little older but I can see how he feels. I am not a wrestler but what we do is real physical and one day you are gonna be like, “How much to go through that show?” Right now I’m lucky, I feel great and have very limited problems over the years health-wise. I think I might live a while more so anybody who wants to come out and see me hit some drums I’m definitely gonna do it.

Glenn: On the big stage, on the beach or wherever else.

Stet: Yeah man.

Glenn: Going back to WASP, I must ask you how does Blackie do it with his vocals, he’s amazing?

Stet: It isn’t easy to sing like that. I mean, I do it, I minic him, I pick up a lot of parts and I can mimic him for like a second but it takes a lot of air. I think I could probably never sing a whole WASP song unless I found something real easy and there is no such thing.

Glenn: I know, how does he do that?

Stet: Well what he does, I’ll tell you one of the funniest things. When he’s doing all the records, all he thinks about is how great it sounds on the record and it always does sound great but he doesn’t leave himself enough air for live. And he’s like, ‘Oh f*ck’ and I’m like, “What”, “Well f*ck I did it again”, “What you didn’t leave yourself space to breath’? and he’s like “Yeah”. So then I help him out and say, “Do I have to do something?” and he’s like maybe. But I’ll help him out a little bit.

But he really helped me with my vocals. Basically the main thing he told me to change is that when you sing, attack your vocals just like you attack your drums and I’m like ‘Wow’. He said, ‘Don’t be tentative, don’t slide into notes, nail it and it’s all in those words and it changed my singing. It made me a whole lot better.

It’s so funny because live he’s got a f*ck*n’ powerhouse of a voice but sometimes when he’s recording he’s not singing as loud as you think – it’s mike placement and I’m like ‘Wow’. It’s amazing to me because I’m listening to it. I’ve got one ear on the wire because I punched a whole bunch of vocals over the years and I was amazed. He never ceases to amaze me, I’m like ‘J*s*s Chr*st’. It’s so much control on what likes such a mad, insane, exploding thing. He has such control over it and his pitch – I mean, dude, pith f*ck*ng perfect, I swear it’s ridiculous. I have to give credit where credit’s due. In the end I’ve learned so much about not only singing but recording vocals, producing vocals because of him. I hear things on records because he shouts in my ear – he makes me nuts when I hear some stuff. There’s certain bands I can’t listen to and for reasons I absolutely can’t mention their names.

Some stuff is just f*ck*d.

Glenn: Yeah, there’s no musical arrangement, it all sounds the same nd it becomes wallpaper. I must ask you, What made you decide to have a Untility farm truck to take your drums around in and where did you get it from?

Stet: That truck, I have several vehicles out there. Actually I bought that truck when I bought this 1st house. Just for this house because I was doing a re-model. I bought it off a buddy for like a third of its price and it’s an old town work truck so it’s got these 2 what you call reading utility vents so I have all my tools in it. I use that to do the local gigs and I just throw some sh*t in the back and I cruise around. The purpose of that truck is to re-model my properties or to maintain my properties now. I got it 1st for this one and I keep buying places and that’s the humdy bull truck man, we got it for the work side back and forth – it’s absolutely awesome. You can pile somuch sh*t in that thing and it’s kinda funny. It’s cool. It’s my work truck man.

Glenn: You just expect the rock star image all the time I guess, for you to disappear in the corvette or in a limo or something and it was really funny to see you and Christina drive off in the work truck with the drums in the back. It was hilarious.

Stet: Yeah, I thought it was f*ck*n’ hilarious too. It’s even now, so for that gig – a local gig I got my pick up truck with the little DW kit thrown in the back but for Temple (of Brutality) gigs I got a 33 foot Motor home and a 16 foot trailer with a big kit and I have 3 crew guys that I hire to come with us. With the WASP thing you have 4 crew guys and a bus and trailer. I tell you the Motorhome thing is working for any bands that are sick and tired of spending a thousand dollars a day on a bus in the States – buy a f*ck*ng motorhome. Bunk it out man. I bought one that was nearly new and put bunks in it and it’s absolutely beautiful and we’re having a great time. We got the surround sound in there today. I’m having a great time man.

Glenn: Have you ever done drum clinics before?

Stet: Yeah. I used to do them a lot. I’m actually starting again thanks to my association to Dave Ellefson I’m gonna be doing some instructional series I’m thinkin’ of stuff because there’s a lot of topics to cover. I used to fill up clinics but it’s been a while. I figure now, no sense of doing clinics without product coming out. I’ll do a DVD and then I’ll have something to whore out. (Laughs). I love clinics because I take the time and I answer questions and stuff because people are curious about things. I tell them everything I want them to know and then I spend all the time they want to take on talking about what they wanna know. I usually have a deal with what I do that I have a minimum time but then I don’t have a maximum time. I mean within reason I am not gonna go four hours but I might go a couple or few hours. I might go for 60 minutes and then go for another 60 minutes and talk. I usually talk for the 1st 60 mins and that’s easy. There’s a lot talk about to ‘em riht now because I am in the middle of the re-build – I just left WASP and I got my mean ‘Temple’ record gonna come out. I am gonna let that come out and in the meantime do little work and shoot an instructional DVD series and get everything – especially around the fall I’ll be doing all that stuff I’m thinking.

Glenn: Have you got any UK or European dates with ‘Temple of Brutality’ lined up?

Stet: We do have some European dates. We got Switzerland. We are thinking about Wacken, we got ‘Monsters of Rock’ in Bulgaria – there are festivals August 4th through to the 19th. So I’m sure we are gonna fill in around those. But we will be over man, we got a record come out over there and we will be over. I mean hopefully it will be on a larger tour. I’d like to do this and the larger tour and you wanna do it on your own – like do a cd release thing where everybody gets to hang out – do a like 60 minute show and have an organized meet and greet work. Meet everybody in the place – everybody – and just allow enough time for that. Go on at 9 and the club closes at 2. We are done by 10, out there signing by 10.30, 11.30, 12.30 – 3 hours and if you’ve got a few hundred people then that’s enough time. It’s not that all of them will give a sh*t either – they will come and see the band but not everybody necessary want to meet you but to give them the opportunity and the guarantee – we are obviously pushing our new band but if they wanna bring down Megadeth or WASP stuff I imagine that we’d sign it.

Glenn: Yeah – a lot of bands just wanna f*ck off after showtime and it’s the fans that have them there in the 1st place.

Stet: Well I feel that that not everybody handles it correctly. It can be handled a lot better the way fans are handled when there’s not time for them. It should be less terse. I always think there were the grey areas that I always felt we needed to work on in the WASP camp with us just finding a smoother way to tell them f*ck up. I used to try and run into fans the best I could but sometimes there isn’t time. Sometimes you gotta get right out and then people don’t appreciate it. We need to explain why but no-one seems to give them that. It’s like we just jump on the bus and drive away. I don’t know – I’m not always there – maybe it is explained. I’m just pretty thankful that anyone likes us at all. All those people are really there and they are digging it and they are buying your stuff. F*ck (in surprise), if you come through like once or twice a year then stay in there are sign their sh*t. If you’ve got the time – if you can.

Glenn: What made you call the band ‘Temple of Brutality’- is it because it’s brutal and you’ve took it as far as you can go in that sort of style?

Stet: Well actually, I did not – that was from Peter and Tod – I tell Peter to bust his balls if he hates it but I can’t get past it. Well the ‘Temple of Brutality’ is actually the lighthouse isn’t it?

Glenn: Yeah.

Stet: And everything in it kinda stems from there and as far as to explain them and the lyrical content and what it means, it’d probably be more appropriate to for Tod and possibly Peter even than myself because although I’m playing along, I’m really not totally involved in all the lyrics and I can’t really answer that accurately.

Glenn: Peter and Dave, they’ve got the ‘Killing Machine’ album.

Stet: Which is weird because I did the 1st Killing Machine record. That went down well and I was on the road with WASP and er… it’s no big deal and they did that record and released it and I don’t know what’s going on with it but I heard a couple of tracks and it sounded good.

Glenn: It’s very Priesty.

Stet: Jimmy Degrasso played drums –an old friend I haven’t seen in years but great drummer – great guy and they had one from Agent Steel and it’s cool man – James – he’s a ripper man, he’s a screamer and I ws pretty tied up at the time but I have since heard some of the stuff and it sounds good. It sounds cool and Dave’s also got his ‘Halo of Flies’ going and he’s just played a couple of shows out west – it’s good, it’s different – it’s a lot more mainstream than what we are doing. My feelings are that you have a handful of things going on at the same time. It’s not like our calendar is so full you can’t do that and vice-versa. I’m just right now, I’m in a cool place because I don’t have a bunch of projects going on – I got Temple as my main thing and I do my little gigs on the beach here just to keep a smile on my face and half the beaches face and taking care of my investments here and spending time with my wife. It’s cool, it’s cool – I like the way things are now. I also like controlling our calendar instead of having it controlled by somebody else.

Glenn: Cause it’s like you’re playing ‘there, there, there, there, there..’

Stet: Right. With us it’s like… I mean now I’m coordinating with the Agency before I accept anything. It’s like here’s our proposal – does this work for everybody. Once you get everything back it’s like, ‘Yeah, that works for me, that works for me’ then we move ahead because everybody has families and stuff and I think that’s the most important thing. I mean that’s my feelings. I would rather pass on a date so Dave can be at home with his daughter on her birthday.

Glenn: Yeah, I mean a gig is a gig any day of the week but the family things are important.

Stet: And that’s the way I feel about that but I’m sure that there’s others that may hear that and not like it but they can go and f*ck themselves (laughs).

Glenn: And you are a lonely person, if you’ve got no-one to share your life with.

Stet: And that’s right and if you don’t give those people some time and love you miss out on precious moments and you may miss out on the whole f*ck*n’ thing. You might get home some day and everything’s gone – a nice empty drive to park the motorhome in. But yeah – we are trying to keep a nice mixture of servicing the public and keeping our home-life intact and I think that we are a pretty good formula together and we are fortunate enough to know a couple of agencies who are pretty cool who have some decent work for us and we’re plugging in dates right now. There’s no more creative satisfaction than doing successful dates with your own band. I gotta tell you man. The way I felt when I got home from our last tour with Arch Enemy and Chimaira – it was awesome.

Glenn: And it’s not like you’re an employee – you are in control of it.

Stet: And no matter how much you try in situations like WASP and stuff – I always feel like I was a band member – I was a member. But even though in the end you kind of are on paper, you are an employee in a sense. So to put your efforts into something that you are gonna get of use of, whether it does something or not – well you give it a whirl and if you can at least make money doing the live shows then why wouldn’t you give this a shot. Because with me and Dave being a part of it, not to downplay the other two guys because they are awesome but its enough of a trip between us to get enough money to go out and work. Whereas if it was just some new band that no-one heard of we’d be getting about 1/10th the money we’re getting. But it’s like, you know, hanging on the shirt-tails of what we’ve done so the starting offers are very reasonable and do-able so I’m real happy – I’m thankful. We’ve run (been) out a couple of times and done shows and it’s been a great experience and professionally handled. We got a great team – a really great team – I’m excited.

Glenn: Got ya. If you were to write your autobiography, what would you call it?

Stet: Oh man, that’s a f*ck*n’ good one. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and he was saying I should write a book about my time in WASP and all that stuff and I’m like, ‘A time and a place, it’s not – maybe some day’ Immediately I’m sitting there thinking ‘What would I call it?’ and I was thinking ‘WASP through the eyes of Stet Howland – The Bloody Truth’ (we laugh). But for my own autobiography, mine, I don’t know – the f*ckin’ ‘Diary of a Wildman’ – I don’t know. I mean, I’m the luckiest guy in the world – every night was such a party for so many years that I’m so lucky to frikkin’ be here. I don’t know – my own autobiography – I’ll have to get back to you on that one. ‘The Joker’.

Glenn: ‘The Joker’

Stet: ‘The Jokester’ – I don’t know.

Glenn: Alright, part b of that question, what would you have on the cover?

Stet: Gee man, I don’t know. I had a bunch of parts and riffs that I thought were right for WASP and I was gonna turn Blackie onto them but I just never had the opportunity – now I got all this stuff now they’ve turned into songs, so I’m thinking the last thing in the world needs is a f*ck*n’ solo record from a drummer but I’m thinking, ‘What the f*ck, I got a studio, I could probably blow out a solo record’. I was thinkin’ ‘I got some fun stuff’ but to make sure it’s cool, I got some real cool f*ck*n’ artwork and with a collage with a lot of stuff. So I mean, so I was thinkin’ a collage type of thing. I guess if I get to do something like that it’ll be like a collage type of like a mess – like a bunch of chopped up pictures of things put together most likely - but that’s good – now I’m gonna think about it. I think the only think at the moment that would probably sell less than my solo record would be my autobiography at this point. The guys would be dead but that would be interesting. Wow man, I don’t know – I’m gonna thank about that one. It’s funny that you should mention because I have thought about the CD thing, and I’m like, ‘Man, make sure it’s cool – spend that extra 75 cents on the thing so it’s really cool with extra artwork. You know what I mean, because then it will be a collectors item. Not that it will be a collectors item but it will be more interesting that way.

Glenn: Yeah.

Stet: I got to make it the way I want it to be and how much it is, is how much it is. That’s the thing.

Glenn: Right.

Stet: You know I’m not worried about selling a million units. But you know, I think I’ll have to do both, thanks to you.

Glenn: I’ve just made you some more work.

Stet: Then I can have 2 things that don’t sell.

Glenn: The guys that are gonna be reading this interview, what would you like to say to them.

Stet: I do appreciate everybody, I really do and by no means do I consider them pests. If I have the time and the opportunity I definitely give everybody the time that they feel they deserve and I’m sure, believe me, the other guys I work with feel the same but it just doesn’t always present itself. But I love ya and I can’t f*ck*n’ believe that you guys have been following us around and watching what I do all these years and I thank you. I hope it continues. I think I got a cool new band and a wicked new album – I’m sure of that. Come and decide for yourselves. If you hate it, go and ask for your money back or something. (We laugh).

Glenn: Hey that’s good.

Stet: Was that good.

Glenn: That was brilliant Stet. I appreciate it.

Stet: Hey man, thankyou. Thanks a lot Glenn and we’ll have to come back here and raise some hell on the beach here too. I’m thinkin’ – possibly in about an hour.

Glenn: That was brilliant Stet. I appreciate it.

Stet: Hey man, thankyou. Thanks a lot Glenn and we’ll have to come back here and raise some hell on the beach here too. I’m thinkin’ – possibly in about an hour.

Another piccy Stet and I pictured at a cool resort in Fort Myers.

A special thankyou to Christina Howland (Stet's Wife) for taking the photos of Stet with yours truly and Rick and Crystal Wilson for making it all possible.