{"id":23786,"date":"2014-11-12T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T00:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=23786"},"modified":"2015-06-15T23:44:46","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T23:44:46","slug":"feature-stryper-11-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-stryper-11-14\/","title":{"rendered":"STRYPER – Loud \u2018N\u2019 Clear (November 2014) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

STRYPER – Loud \u2018N\u2019 Clear<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nNovember 2014<\/span><\/p>\n

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Stryper live at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood, California on November 16th, 2013<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nOn January 14th, 2013, it was revealed that American Christian heavy metal outfit Stryper had inked an album contract with Naples, Italy-based classic rock and metal label Frontiers Music Srl. The deal encompassed the issue of Second Coming<\/em><\/a> (May 2013) \u2013 a collection which consisted of re-recordings of earlier material \u2013 and seventh studio effort No More Hell To Pay<\/em><\/a> (November 2013), not to mention the release of a live opus: September 2014\u2019s Live At The Whisky<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve recorded and released a few live albums over the years in big settings, and so I wanted to do something really different,\u201d explains Michael Sweet, vocalist and guitarist of Stryper. \u201cMy original plan was to do a live rehearsal in Nashville (Tennessee), where you\u2019ve got footage of the band playing. Then we would\u2019ve brought in some people to sit around while we were playing, and then gone into a sound-stage, and did maybe a hundred person-plus live performance. That was my original idea and goal, but that didn\u2019t work out. It just so happened that we were playing the Whisky \u2013 that was on the books \u2013 and I felt like it would be a great alternative to my original idea, to perform and record the Whisky show. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason being was it\u2019s a historical landmark; if you go back to the history of the band \u2013 pre-Stryper when we were Roxx Regime \u2013 that\u2019s where we began, was the Whisky. I played there for the first time when I was 16-years-old and then played there numerous times over the years, so it feels like such an integral and important part of our history. I thought that it would be fitting, and the band did as well. We thought it would be fitting to perform there, record it, and make it available as a live DVD \/ CD. That\u2019s what we did, and the rest is history. Not to use an old clich\u00e9, but it really is. The rest is history. It was a perfect, intimate setting, a sold-out show, and a great place to capture a live performance of the band.\u201d<\/p>\n

On that inaugural occasion performing at the Whisky, Roxx Regime supported DuBrow. \u201cMy memory of that show, of Kevin (DuBrow, Quiet Riot vocalist)…,\u201d the frontman begins. \u201cReally the only time I met Kevin, and sadly as we all know, he\u2019s passed. I would\u2019ve liked to have known him better, but we apparently got a little under his skin that night and really for a simple reason: just because we were using \u2013 according to him \u2013 too much hairspray. The dressing rooms upstairs are real tight, and close to each other. We were in our dressing room getting ready to go on, and I remember he kind of kicked the door open and got on us with lots of expletives, saying that we were using too much hairspray. We were all just kind of sitting there dumbfounded and shocked, and thinking \u2018Who is this guy? Why is he telling us we\u2019re using too much hairspray?\u2019 It was kind of funny, though. When we were opening for DuBrow at the Whisky, that was a time when I was 16. I was still a wee lad, and we were Roxx Regime at the time. Actually, if memory serves me right, we might\u2019ve been just Roxx. We might not have even had the \u2018Regime\u2019 in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hairspray usage was the norm during the late 70s and early 80s across the Sunset Strip. \u201cWe certainly used a lot, probably not any more than any other hair band on the Strip,\u201d Michael judges. \u201cI doubt that we used any more than M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce<\/a>, or Poison certainly. I\u2019m sure Poison used more than we did, but we used a lot. I don\u2019t use any now at all, but I always joke about my brother still using it. My brother still uses a lot of hairspray and that\u2019s fine, but you know what man? It was funny. Those were the hair days; every guy in town who came to the Strip was using lots of hairspray.\u201d<\/p>\n

Browsing through old photographs likely provides much amusement. \u201cIt does,\u201d the singer agrees. \u201cIt\u2019s funny at times, it\u2019s embarrassing at times, it\u2019s sickening at times (laughs). There are some photos I can\u2019t even look at. My family, whenever they decide to pop in an old Stryper video or whatever, I can\u2019t watch it. That\u2019s my opportunity to exit stage left, go run an errand or something, and do something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a teen, Michael remembers visiting the Sunset Strip himself. \u201cI started going to the Strip when I was 13, going and checking out bands,\u201d he shares. \u201cI always looked much older than I was \u2013 I never had any issues getting in. I was much taller and dressed up; my hair was poofed up and rocked out, I had a lot of make-up on, and was dressed to the Hilton. I remember going from club to club, going to Gazzarri\u2019s and watching this band perform, and then walking down the street to the Whisky and watching this band perform, and then getting in the car and going to the Starwood and watching Yesterday & Today perform (Y&T), and then going to the Troubadour for drinks and after-show, late-show and watching W.A.S.P. perform. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an insane time, when you literally had your options of seeing Ratt, M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce, Yesterday & Today, W.A.S.P., Poison, Stryper, and all these bands \u2013 and there are so many that I\u2019m not mentioning \u2013 in one night. It really was a special and unique time that I don\u2019t think will ever be duplicated or repeated ever again.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The fact that a whole plethora of household names \u2013 then relatively unknown \u2013 were performing at the same time in such a small area is incredible to consider. \u201cIt was,\u201d the Stryper mainman reaffirms. \u201cIt was all in one place. Gazzarri\u2019s and the Whisky are within walking distance, and the Roxy is right in-between. Obviously the Rainbow Bar and Grill, that was another place. The Roxy Theater, a lot of bands played there, and then the Rainbow where everyone ate \u2013 that\u2019s still there. They\u2019re all right there within blocks of each other, and then if you go down Doheny to Santa Monica \u2013 you walk from the Sunset Strip to Santa Monica down Doheny \u2013 you\u2019re at the Troubadour. You take a left, and then there\u2019s the Troubadour right there on the corner. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Starwood was a little further down. You could walk that, but it\u2019d be a pretty lengthy walk. I know we made the walk many times, but between those five venues \u2013 Roxy, the Whisky, Gazzarri\u2019s, Starwood, and Troubadour alone \u2013 every band from that time period was there, and the list just goes on and on and on. If you go back in time and you research from 1976-7 to 1983-4, you\u2019re gonna be astonished at the bands that came out of that scene, and that\u2019s what was really cool about it. You could go see all of these bands, and be a part of that movement. It really was a movement, and a pretty powerful one too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kiss bassist Gene Simmons claimed in a September 2014 interview with Esquire<\/em> magazine that the rock movement as a whole is dead. \u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d Michael counters. \u201cI think Gene\u2019s coming from a different perspective \u2013 he\u2019s looking at it from a financial sense, I think. I could be wrong, but that\u2019s what I got from everything that he\u2019s said, and I agree with him. I think it is kind of dead, financially speaking. It\u2019s very difficult for rock bands to make any money at what they do in the \u2018music business.\u2019 You have to get really creative, and even then it\u2019s difficult. It helps obviously when you\u2019re a band like Kiss, a legendary, classic band. You\u2019ve got such a large core following that you don\u2019t have to worry as much as the up and coming bands that don\u2019t have a following at all. That\u2019s the problem. <\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the people that I feel sorry for, because they\u2019re gonna have a really tough go at it. You\u2019re definitely gonna be applying that starving artist saying or tag to them, because most likely they are gonna be starving. Regarding other genres, there are other genres that are thriving. Country music is thriving obviously, and hip-hop is thriving. I don\u2019t think rock is dead in a musical sense, though. I think some of the best music to emerge in the past 40 years has emerged in the past two or three years \u2013 I love a lot of the albums that I\u2019m hearing coming out. I think that musically speaking it\u2019s thriving and it\u2019s very much alive, but financially speaking it is dying or dead as Gene put it. Again, I think that that was what he was trying to convey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of that aforementioned \u2019best music\u2019 encompasses a number of platters. \u201cMr. Big just put a really good album, which I like (The Stories We Could Tell<\/em>, September 2014),\u201d the axeman cites. \u201cDream Theater put out a great album (self-titled, September 2013), Queensr\u00ffche put out an amazing album (self-titled, June 2013) \u2013 one of the best albums that they\u2019ve done in the past ten years by far, if not longer. Bands like Black Country Communion. I\u2019m not as big a fan of California Breed as I am of Black Country Communion, but I like California Breed because I\u2019m a big Glenn Hughes fan. I love Glenn Hughes; I think the man can do no wrong. Even if he sings a bad song, it still sounds great because he\u2019s such a talent. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an incredible musician and an incredible singer, and I\u2019ve always loved his style and his sound. I was just instantly drawn to it the first time I heard it, and he still sounds amazing. He\u2019s in his 60s, and he still sounds absolutely phenomenal. He hasn\u2019t missed a note; he hasn\u2019t skipped a beat. I mean, it\u2019s incredible. I love Black Country Communion; I think that was brilliant, one of my favourite albums to come out in a long, long time. The list just goes on and on. I mean, there are some really bad albums too. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m gonna apply the names to those, but there are a lot of albums that are just kind of recycled and thrown out there, and not well done. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are bands that are still putting out great music, though. Ratt, their last album (Infestation, April 2010) was one of their best albums in a long time, so it shows me that rock still is very much alive and bands are capable of digging deep within themselves to make that happen and keep rock alive. Stryper is one of those bands. We strive to put out really good albums; well-produced, well-written, well thought out, and hopefully in line and on track with our old material and every bit as good. The goal is to surpass it though, and so hopefully it\u2019s better. We\u2019re getting ready to make a new album; we\u2019re gonna go into the studio for pre-production in mid-January 2015, and start recording on the 1st of February. Hopefully, we\u2019re gonna put out the best record of our career.\u201d<\/p>\n

With respect to raw album sales, Stryper\u2019s newest to date \u2013 No More Hell To Pay<\/em> \u2013 would\u2019ve achieved Gold certification had it been released during the 80s. \u201cI think so,\u201d Michael seconds. \u201cI think it would\u2019ve even been a platinum album, and I\u2019ve always said this. If that had followed To Hell With The Devil<\/em> (October 1986), absolutely. There\u2019s no question about it, and I\u2019m not saying that in a dated sense. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s dated at all. It\u2019s retro. It\u2019s got the old school sound and flavour to it, but yet it\u2019s got a new school twist in the production and the tones. Yeah though, man. I believe that if that had followed To Hell With The Devil<\/em>, I think it would\u2019ve surpassed To Hell With The Devil<\/em> in sales \u2013 To Hell With The Devil<\/em> is our biggest selling album. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think No More Hell To Pay<\/em> would have been if it had come out in 1988 instead of In God We Trust<\/em> (June 1988). I think In God We Trust<\/em> could\u2019ve outsold To Hell With The Devil<\/em> had it not been overproduced. There were some really good songs on that, but it was just overproduced. It became sterile, and it lost some of its spontaneity and its rawness. Yeah though, man. I\u2019m really pleased with No More Hell To Pay<\/em>. I could not be more pleased; I think with all of the reviews and all of the comments from the fans worldwide, I would say that everyone else pretty much agrees with that statement.\u201d<\/p>\n

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None of the ensembles Roxx Regime and later Stryper performed alongside on the Sunset Strip became influential for the composer. \u201cCertainly though, there were other bands that I grew up listening to that were big influences,\u201d he notes. \u201cBands like Boston; Boston was an influence \u2013 the guitar tone and the production. Judas Priest was an influence; the song structuring and the vocal, Rob Halford (vocals), and the guitar tone. Van Halen, when they came on the scene they were a big influence, and just the fire that they had and the rawness that they had \u2013 it\u2019s just so cool. Queen was a big influence, as far as vocally. Brian May (Queen guitarist), a big influence of mine in terms of guitar. Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne guitarist), a big influence of mine \u2013 guitar tone, guitar playing. There were a lot of bands that definitely influenced us. Journey, Journey was a big influence \u2013 we used to listen to Journey all the time. UFO, Michael Schenker. I think that you can hear little flavours of these bands and these musicians in the sound of Stryper. It kind of helped to shape us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albeit influenced by the guitar tone and guitar playing of late Ozzy Osbourne member Randy Rhoads, Michael wasn\u2019t influenced by earlier associate Tony Iommi \u2013 Ozzy and Tony having shared a decade long musical relationship in the ranks of Black Sabbath<\/a>. \u201cI am a fan of Tony, but I didn\u2019t sit and listen to Tony growing up as a guitar player,\u201d he stresses. \u201cI know Oz did; Oz played along to a lot of Sabbath albums, and had every Sabbath album growing up. He\u2019s a huge fan of Tony; Oz had an SG at one point, and wanted to have a band where they would all come out in cloaks. He was really influenced by Black Sabbath, heavily. I wasn\u2019t so much. I mean, I appreciate Sabbath. I like Sabbath, absolutely, but I wouldn\u2019t say they were so much an influence on me compared to bands like Bad Company, and Judas Priest, and Journey, and Van Halen, and Queen. Those bands were a much heavier influence. ELO was a big influence on me vocally, and structure wise. In terms of songwriting, I was really drawn to bands like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stryper lyricist was perhaps more enamoured with later Black Sabbath albums Heaven And Hell<\/em> (April 1980) and Mob Rules<\/em> (November 1981), those respective pair of outings featuring the late Ronnie James Dio behind the microphone. \u201cSure, yes,\u201d he confirms. \u201cOh yeah, I love Dio, man. That\u2019s another one that I forgot about. When I heard the first Dio album (Holy Diver<\/em>, May 1983), I was blown away like everybody else, and I just loved that style of writing. It had a melodic sense; it had lots of melody, but it was still powerful \u2013 the melody didn\u2019t overtake the power, and vice versa. It was really incredible, and obviously he was a great singer. He had a little bit of that blues influence, and his delivery was so awesome. That\u2019s why he\u2019s renowned and known worldwide as one of the greatest metal singers, if not the greatest of all time. Yeah man, a huge fan of Dio. Was he an influence on me? No, because I don\u2019t really sound anything like Dio. I would never try to sound like Dio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Michael has a wide vocal range, more comparable to the late Ronnie as opposed to Ozzy. \u201cOh yeah, absolutely,\u201d he concurs. \u201cYeah, he\u2019s got an incredible range. If I\u2019m up there with Dio in range then hey, I\u2019m up there with great company. Guys like Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) and Halford, and obviously Steve Perry (Journey) I love. Those are some of my all-time favourites. Ronnie James Dio. I like guys that are a little… How should I say?… They\u2019re a little underrated. Guys like Robin Zander from Cheap Trick; I think everybody knows that he\u2019s a great singer, but he doesn\u2019t quite get the recognition as some of these other guys. I loved Cheap Trick growing up, I love Robin\u2019s voice. Obviously, Paul Rodgers (Bad Company \/ Free) is one of my all-time favourite singers. I sound nothing like any of those guys. It\u2019s funny, because I always get people saying \u2018You must\u2019ve been influenced by Dennis DeYoung.\u2019 I do hear a little similarity in my tone and my vibrato, but I was never influenced by Dennis DeYoung (laughs). I loved Styx; growing up, I loved Styx, but I always got more into the Tommy Shaw-sung songs than the Dennis DeYoung-sung songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Returning to the central topic of Live At The Whisky<\/em>, touch-ups were implemented. \u201cThere were a few, because there were some bloopers,\u201d the vocalist admits. \u201cThere were some notes that were bad, and we obviously had to fix those. What we did is we went into the studio very quickly. With vocals and with guitars, any notes that were wrong where we made a mistake, or where the vocal cracked, or where it was a bad note or whatever, we touched those things up. It\u2019s not incredibly touched up, though \u2013 not as much as you would think. A lot of bands go in and literally redo… Like with the Kiss album (Alive!<\/em>, September 1975). They redid everything, practically. It\u2019s not like that. It\u2019s pretty much how Stryper sounds. If you came to a Stryper show, you\u2019d walk away saying \u2018Wow.\u2019 That\u2019s what you get for the most part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rehearsals prior to Stryper\u2019s November 16th, 2013 Whisky performance were minimal. \u201cSometimes, we don\u2019t rehearse at all; we literally fly out, meet each other, and go and play,\u201d Michael reveals. \u201cOther times, we rehearse for a couple of days. If we haven\u2019t played in a long time and we\u2019re going out and doing a bunch of new songs, then we\u2019ll rehearse for five or six days somewhere \u2013 usually in Nashville or Vegas, but sometimes in Boston here at my house. It\u2019s one of the three, one of the three places. Rob and Oz are from Vegas, Tim\u2019s from Nashville, and I\u2019m from outside of Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rehearsals concentrated on new Stryper fare. \u201cWe concentrated a lot on the new material,\u201d the guitarist affirms. \u201cWe just recently added some new songs; we added \u2018Revelation\u2019, we added \u2018God\u2019, and we added \u2018Carry On Wayward Son\u2019 (Kansas cover). We wanted to add some songs that had more to them, like \u2018God\u2019\u2019s a very produced song. There\u2019s a lot going on, and so it\u2019s very difficult to pull off live. We had to rehearse that a lot, but it\u2019s been going over really well. People seem to really like the new set. We\u2019ve got all of the classics in there, but we added a bunch of new songs as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stryper\u2019s setlist for the band\u2019s Whisky jaunt slightly differed. \u201cWe added \u2018Always There For You\u2019, and we added \u2018Legacy\u2019,\u201d Michael cites. \u201cWe tried to mix it up a little bit, and then after that show, we added a bunch of other songs. The set list we\u2019ve been performing over the last year has been completely different \u2013 well, not completely different, but quite a bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Stryper live at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood, California on November 16th,
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Altering a setlist is a healthy manoeuvre. One or two compositions aside, many artists tend to leave setlists unchanged. \u201cI know, I know, and you know what?,\u201d the Stryper frontman rhetorically queries. \u201cWe\u2019re guilty of that, to a degree. We\u2019re not this band that\u2019s known for hit after hit after hit, so we\u2019ve got a very limited catalogue that people remember and wanna hear. Everybody wants to hear the popular songs \u2013 it doesn\u2019t matter how many times you play them. Songs like \u2018Calling On You\u2019 and \u2018To Hell With The Devil\u2019, \u2018Soldiers Under Command\u2019, \u2018Free\u2019, \u2018Honestly\u2019, blah blah blah. We always play those because if we don\u2019t, the backlash is crazy. It makes it a little more difficult and interesting to try to mix it up, but we do our best. I think we do a pretty good job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, there should be at least three to four variations in setlists between tours. \u201cI agree, I agree, and we do that,\u201d Michael stresses. \u201cAfter the Whisky, we added five new songs. We dropped a few, and added five new songs. It felt like a new set, it really did.\u201d<\/p>\n

The live reception of new Stryper material versus old Stryper material is \u201cgreat\u201d, the singer reckons. \u201cI mean, I think you can look out in the crowd, and see that some people don\u2019t know what we\u2019re performing. They might not have heard the song yet or bought the album yet \u2013 No More Hell To Pay<\/em> \u2013 but when we\u2019ve finished the song, the response is as good or better than finishing \u2018To Hell With The Devil\u2019 or \u2018Soldiers Under Command\u2019 because it sounds really good. Those new songs go over really, really well and the band sounds good playing them, so I think that\u2019s the impressive part. People can\u2019t deny like \u2018Wow, this sounds good.\u2019 At the end they respond to that, so that\u2019s really cool to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certain tracks Michael particularly enjoys performing live. \u201cThere are always certain songs that we\u2019re more comfortable performing, and get a little more excited about doing,\u201d he acknowledges. \u201c\u2018Soldiers Under Command\u2019 is one of them, \u2018To Hell With The Devil\u2019. There\u2019s always a surge of energy that comes with playing those songs the minute we start them live between the band and the audience, so that\u2019s always great. I like songs like \u2018Reach Out\u2019 live, old, classic stuff like \u2018Loud \u2019N\u2019 Clear\u2019, \u2018The Rock That Makes Me Roll\u2019 \u2013 those are really fun songs. \u2018All For One\u2019 is one of my favourites. Some of the newer tracks I like playing, like \u2018Revelation\u2019, \u2018No More Hell To Pay\u2019. We just recently added \u2018God\u2019. I mean, there are so many tracks that are just really enjoyable and I have such a fun time playing, and I think the other guys in the band would most likely agree with that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

And conversely, certain Stryper tunes have failed to translate to live situations. \u201cThere\u2019s quite a few,\u201d the mainman confesses. \u201cWe\u2019ve made an attempt to play songs, but they just didn\u2019t have the energy. They didn\u2019t have whatever that was, that magic that translated live. We just ixnayed; we cut them from the set. A lot of those songs are from the album In God We Trust<\/em>, which I think is due to the fact that it\u2019s overproduced, and that there\u2019s so much going on production wise. It\u2019s very, very difficult to recapture or to pull that off live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Michael likes In God We Trust<\/em>\u2019s respective numbers. \u201cIt\u2019s probably one of my favourite albums in terms of songs,\u201d he endorses. \u201cI just wish that we could re-record it. We do plan on doing that at some point, probably in the next few years. We\u2019ll re-record that, and also re-record some of the Against The Law<\/em> tracks (August 1990), and maybe even get into re-recording… Another album that I felt didn\u2019t really have its fair shake in terms of production is the Reborn<\/em> album (August 2005). I think there are a few really cool songs on it, but I don\u2019t care for the drum tones. There were some things that kind of bothered me that I think could definitely be improved upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

This proposed second collection of re-recordings is provisionally titled Second Coming, Part Two<\/em>, following on from May 2013\u2019s inaugural instalment. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what it would be,\u201d the axeman verifies. \u201cWe would probably do five or six songs from In God We Trust<\/em>, five or six from Against The Law<\/em>, add a couple of brand new songs like we did with Second Coming<\/em>, and maybe hit a few songs from Reborn<\/em>. It would certainly be fun. It would be worth doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stryper plan to begin pre-production on their eighth studio full-length proper in January 2015, as referenced earlier in this feature. \u201cThe band will come out here to my house and stay, like they always do,\u201d Michael discloses. \u201cWe\u2019ll go down to my studio downstairs \u2013 it\u2019s a small, little, cosy studio \u2013 and we\u2019ll put in our earphones, our earbuds. We\u2019ll sit there and work everything out as band, and then we\u2019ll go in and start recording on February 1st.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to stay on the same path as the No More Hell To Pay<\/em> album. I think that was so well received. We went back full circle to what we\u2019re all about musically. I think if we stay true to that but add a few little spins here and there and change it up a little bit yet not too much… Pretty much stick to that format. This album will be the follow-up to that album, obviously. It was just so well received. Why change it? Don\u2019t try to reinvent the wheel so to speak. We\u2019ll just keep doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Stryper backstage at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood, California on November
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Further solo material from the songwriter is likely. \u201cThe problem with my solo albums…,\u201d he observes. \u201cAnd this isn\u2019t me crying about it or complaining about it, because I think it\u2019s just a fact. They\u2019ve never really been given a chance. The only time a solo album that I did was really given a fair shake in terms of promotion and marketing was the first one I released back in 1994 (Michael Sweet<\/em>, April 1994). I was with a label called Benson, and they really made that a priority. They sunk a ton of money into marketing it and it showed, because that album outsold the Stryper album released prior to that, which was Against The Law<\/em> \u2013 a studio album. The compilation Can\u2019t Stop The Rock<\/em> (July 1991) it outsold two-fold, so it sold double in sales comparatively, and it was a solo album. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen I released Real<\/em> (October 1995), and that didn\u2019t get a fair chance because the label was closing its doors. They did the minute that album was turned in, and then I went and did an album called Truth<\/em> (October 2000). I signed with a label called Restless, and they closed their doors right before the album got released. They got absorbed by another label, so it literally had no-one working it at all. If you fast forward to the album that I just recently did \u2013 I\u2019m Not Your Suicide<\/em> (May 2014) \u2013 it was a very similar situation. I was with a label called Big3, and there just weren\u2019t enough people working that album. They had a very small team, just a few people. It got no marketing whatsoever. Any marketing that you saw was from me for the most part, really pushing it on Facebook and Twitter. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to see another solo album with a real label, someone that has the marketing and promotion down, but not too large a label. I\u2019ve been really impressed with Rat Pak, very impressed with Rat Pak. First week out, I think the KXM album did over 10,000 units (KXM<\/em>, March 2014). For a band like that on a small label, that\u2019s very impressive \u2013 that says a lot. It\u2019s pretty cool. There\u2019s another label called Loud & Proud, who\u2019ve done a great job. They did The Winery Dogs album (The Winery Dogs<\/em>, July 2013), and really promoted that fantastically. Somebody like that I\u2019d love to hook up with, and do another solo album, and see it get the attention it deserves. I think if it does, it\u2019ll do well. I think it\u2019ll do very well, because my solo albums are a little different from the Stryper albums, but it\u2019s basically the same ingredients for the most part. I\u2019m the guy that writes the Stryper songs, and I\u2019m the guy that writes the Michael Sweet songs. I produce both, and there are a lot of similarities there.\u201d<\/p>\n

January 2015 record Only To Rise<\/em><\/a> pairs Michael with Lynch Mob guitarist George Lynch (ex-Dokken), the debut effort to be issued under the Sweet & Lynch banner. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you what they can expect,\u201d he submits. \u201cIt\u2019s an album that I\u2019m very, very proud of, and I know that George is extremely proud of it as well. We\u2019re taking people on a journey back to the late 70s and early 80s, but it\u2019s not done so in a bad way \u2013 in a dated or a negative way. It\u2019s done so in a very positive way. It\u2019s got a modern twist because of the production and the sound of it. We\u2019ve got an incredible band; we\u2019ve got Brian Tichy (ex-Whitesnake drummer), James LoMenzo (ex-Megadeth<\/a> \/ ex-White Lion bassist), George Lynch, and myself. Everyone just really clicked, and so it sounds like a band. It doesn\u2019t just sound like four guys being put in the studio together to make an album, which it often enough turns out like. Then the magic isn\u2019t there, and that specialness that you get with the unity of four guys a lot of times isn\u2019t there when you do that. It is there with this. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like a band; everyone is playing off of one another, and not over-playing. Everybody shines; everyone came to the table, and delivered. It\u2019s really cool, and I think the album itself in terms of songs is great. I couldn\u2019t be more pleased. George created some incredible guitar riffs, and then I wrote lyrics and melodies to them, and arranged the songs. Here, we have this album. What could have very quickly turned into just a mediocre album at best I think is an exceptional album, and I can\u2019t wait for people to hear it as a whole, and to start reading and hearing the feedback on it. I think people are gonna enjoy it; it\u2019s a breath of fresh air in today\u2019s music world, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Live At The Whisky<\/em> was released on September 19th, 2014 in Europe and subsequently on the 23rd in North America, all via Frontiers Music Srl.<\/p>\n

Interview published in November 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STRYPER – Loud \u2018N\u2019 Clear Anthony Morgan November 2014 Stryper live at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood, California on November 16th, 2013 On January 14th, 2013, it was revealed that American Christian heavy metal outfit Stryper had inked an album contract with Naples, Italy-based classic rock and metal label Frontiers Music Srl. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stryper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23786"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23832,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23786\/revisions\/23832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}