A Conversation with Joey DeMaio of Manowar

This is the original transcript of the interview, only minor editing has been applied for readability. This has been the basis for articles but has never been published in the original form.

Wortraub: You have been doing music for more than 25 years. Do you ever get tired of it?
Joey: No, because I don’t think you can get tired of something that you love. When you are doing something you don’t like, you can get very, very tired of it very, very quickly. Studies have been made about people working in factories with loud noises. People working in a situation like that, working at a job which they dislike, they quickly go deaf around loud noises. Because they just don’t enjoy what they are doing. It is interesting because these studies have proven that. The funny part about it is, people who listen to music at very very loud volume do not go deaf. It is interesting.

Wortraub: So you really enjoy what you are doing? Standing in front of 50.000 people, playing music?
Joey: I am living for it. It is not so much the standing on stage part of it, which is what most people see, that attracts me to doing this. The standing on stage and playing is a part of what we do. It is not the thing that attracts me now; it is what attracted me when I first started playing. I thought: ‚Wow, great. Girls and long hair, shaking that hair. Blasting amplifiers, partying, flying around the fucking world.‘ That is what attracted me to it. But now what attracts me is the challenge of doing something that seems like it is an impossible task and having it work. It is an incredible amount of responsibility and an incredible amount of thought and effort and planning that goes into even a small concert. Let alone a big one like the Earthshaker. When these things happen and it is over and 25.000 people came and left and no one was hurt, the sound worked – even though we had difficulties, we fixed the problem – the sound came through, the lighting was great, the orchestra played, to do that is a great challenge. And it is a tremendous feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. The wish to always exceed that is what keeps us going.

Wortraub: Is that also what drives the musical development from one record to the next?
Joey: Yes, because I think, you have to constantly force yourself to look back to where you started, so you never forget it, and find a way to keep that feeling and energy. But yet you need to develop it, help it evolve and improve it, so that each time you do something, you retain it, the energy. Also, bring something new to it, some fresh energy.

Wortraub: Well, but Manowar is not the most innovative of metal bands, you are not famous for challenging the metal genre …
Joey: … well, that is not true. In the genre of music itself, are we the most innovative group? Certainly not. There are composers who are much more musically adventurous. There are people that play spoons on tables, that is adventurous. Or people that play totally atonal music. So, no, in the sense of trying something for the sake of being adventurous, we are not doing that. But on the other hand we are absolutely the most distinguished heavy metal band in the world, for doing things and being first in pioneering technology. We recorded digital before other bands knew it existed. We developed a drum triggering system that allowed our drummer to be heard above all the other bands, it allowed us to achieve a higher level of fidelity for our concert audiences. We developed sound systems on stage and I have designed personally the cabinets that I play through, that Karl plays through. We are dealing with the research and development of companies like Sennheiser. They value our opinion that is why we work hand in hand with them. So, I could go on and on and show you exactly how we leave the competition in the dust for so long. We are adventurous and we are breaking new ground. In terms of music, in heavy metal, I think, we are still breaking new ground because our records are better recorded than any other bands‘. You just heard the record with the highest fidelity out there. I invite you to compare this with the (quote) (unquote) biggest heavy metal bands out there.

Wortraub: … yes, but when it comes to heavy metal …
Joey: You have a great point, but we are not supposed to. That is like saying you studied Beethoven all your life but haven’t gone beyond what Beethoven has done. There is a frame in the heavy metal we play that dialogs with our forefathers. We are playing the style of music that Sabbath played, that Zeppelin played, Uriah Heep, Mountain: All of the forefathers of metal. I could go on and name the classic great bands and some of them are still together today. Why? Because it is great and stands the test of time. And where are all the assholes that had hit records over the last twenty years. They are dead and forgotten, as they should be; because greatness lives on.

Wortraub: Is that what you mean with promoting the only right and true heavy metal?
Joey: We are carrying on the classic style of heavy metal, which means having musicians which deserve to be called musicians, which means people who actually play the instrument and control the instrument and the instrument doesn’t control them. People who have talent and ability to play and to write songs that touch people, that go beyond some idiot standing on stage and making noise with their instrument. They don’t have the right to their instrument. We are following the path of the great bands that made that mark on history.

Wortraub: With this record you are going back to a time even further away, to epic, to Norse mythology …
Joey: … and mythology in general, and there is a reason for that. The reason, why you can walk into the street and if you see a girl about to fall in front of a car, one person will jump out and save her. The rest of the people will be frozen light a deer in the headlights. There is a reason why a fireman runs into a building and saves a mother and her child and risks his own life. There is a reason for that. There is something inside them that compels them to go beyond and do something special. And there is something inside other people that says ‚No, that is not me. I am a piece of shit.‘ And there is something in the middle of those two that says: ‚Well, maybe I can do that. Maybe I can achieve something.‘ And that is the spark of greatness that I believe lives inside everybody and then it is choice. Do you stay a piece of shit or do you challenge yourself to be the best person you can be, to be more intelligent, to improve yourself, to improve your situation, regardless of what you started out with, who you are or what you have. What makes a skinny guy go into the gym, do all the things he needs to do, to improve himself, to eat right, to sleep right, to develop himself into another person, feeling better about himself. The changes that we may want to make in our personal life, professional life. It all starts with the spark of desire, of wanting to do it. And everybody is equal; we are all equal with that. It is just what will we do with our lives. What will we choose to do? And we all have the same choice.

Wortraub: So you are talking about a very practical approach to heroism?
Joey: I think, there is only one approach to heroism. Everybody, man or woman, has the ability to look at themselves and make a choice. And that in essence is being a hero. You may be a hero to your younger brother, you may be a hero to your girlfriend, you may be a hero to your parents, and you may be a hero at work to your colleagues. In some sense we all do things every day in our life that make others around us go ‚Wow! This guy really is somebody!‘ It could be that a colleague has an emergency and you cover for him. Hey, that is being a hero. Somebody is in need and you are able to come through. You came through. You don’t necessarily jump off a fucking building. It is that quality that makes us what we are. We all have it. It is just the question, do we choose to use it.

Wortraub: Why then the ancient story, why not make a record about modern day heroism?
Joey: Because the heroes of today were inspired by the heroes of yesteryear. This is where it started, this is the essence. That is like saying, why don’t I perform like the metal bands of today. Well, the heavy metal bands of today were not inspired by the great bands. If they were, they would not be so boring.

Wortraub: So, you are going back to the original?
Joey: Yes, absolutely. Why haven’t these myths and stories disappeared? They have been told and re-told over thousands and thousands of years, because each of those stories have inspired another person that heard it, to adopt some of those qualities.

Wortraub: Why are you focussing on Scandinavian mythology then, and not Greek or Chinese?
Joey: That is part of the greater concept that we are following. This is going to be an ongoing quest to look to different cultures, different heroes for things that touch that particular group of people.

Wortraub: So, there is going to be an album on Zeus?
Joey: It is a possibility. We have already touched on certain Greek gods in ‚Triumph of Steel‘. But there is certainly more room, because the Greek mythology is very rich and fantastic. But we have always touched on the great north mythology if you followed the bands career. That thread has always sown together different parts of the different albums.

Wortraub: It fits the heavy metal, but why always focus on war, death, fighting. Where lies the inspiration in that?
Joey: Those things are metaphors and pictures for us to internalize and then reuse in our daily lives. When you talk about a war, or battle, or struggle, it can very well be an internal struggle within yourself to make a decision, to leave one place of employment and go to another, to leave one career choice and make another, to leave a person or a situation. These stories are meant for us to digest, internalize and derive an inspiration from that we need to live our lives. They are important. And it really helps to think ‚Oh my god, this guy Odin hung on a tree for nine day in search for wisdom. I think if he could do that, than I can tell my boss I think I need a raise.‘ I think, we need to find sources of inspiration, there is so little of it today.

Wortraub: Do you have the feeling that we would be in need of heroes at this time especially?
Joey: Well, look at what is going on in the world. Can you find a more depressing fucked up place? Turn on TV; do you want to be depressed? No, exactly. This is where guys like you – with a brain – need to step into the whole circle of social entertainment that is music. And music, movies are meant to take us away from the atmosphere we are forced to deal with. We are forced to watch what is going on on TV. I am not in charge of programming on TV; I would not put that fucking shit on. And nor would I program that stuff in the newspaper. But I am programming what is on this record and I am programming what is on the concert. What I am programming is: ‚Please come for one or two hours and be in a place where you will be respected by everybody in the place, you will be treated as an equal, come and have fun, enjoy yourself. Scream along with the songs, be your own hero, be around people who refuel you with energy and then go back out into the fight of every day life.‘

Wortraub: So, you are providing a little bit of escapism?
Joey: Yes, it is a combination of what I consider necessary escapism. We all need to escape, whether you are so tired you need to take twenty minutes to meditate, whether you need to say: ‚Guess what, I am taking Friday off.‘ It is not escapism in the sense that you are avoiding reality, it is escapism in the sense that you need to recharge your batteries so you can face reality. That is the difference. To say, I am going to be around something that fills me from floor to ceiling with positive energy in order to deal with whatever I have to. Because let’s face it, every day brings new joy and new pain. And it is how you deal with it that makes you the person you are. I’ve seen a lot of people deal with a lot of things. And I have sat back and gone ‚Puh, I would have never done it that way‘ or ‚I wish, I could have dealt with that the way he did.‘

Wortraub: Well, your themes on all of your records have evolved: from men among equals, warriors, to kings and now via apotheosis to gods …
Joey: That is an interesting concept. In my life I had the good fortune to meet and work with people who are just men, ordinary guys, nice people, and assholes as well. But I have also had the good fortune to work with people who I consider gods, the gods amongst men. What I mean with that is, people who rise to the highest power that they can of their league in every way. I am talking about people enormously talented and yet enormously humble. And generous and giving of themselves and creating an atmosphere although they might be revered as gods by others, they don’t act as such. That is what I mean, when I talk about men and gods among men. I have been very fortunate to work with people who seek the highest level that they can work on, or think on, or create on. That is what I mean.

Wortraub: So, this is what aspire to be yourself …
Joey: … daily. And I look back at my life, at the way I thought and I acted. There is definitely some progress. I have a long way to go, but there is progress.

Wortraub: So, which state are you in: warrior, king, god …
Joey: …all of the above at different times. When I need to do something, then I am there. If I see two people screaming at each other I will go: ‚Can I help?‘ I am judge, I am jury, I am all things that you need me to be at all times.

Wortraub: Are you still simple man with all the rock star life going on?
Joey: It has made me more of a simple person believe it or not. I have a very simple approach to life. It has made me that. Because it has made me realize that if you get caught in that, you might lose yourself. Your real self should be a person who can live with five dollars in their pocket, which is what many of us have to do. If you got five thousand it should not make you a different person. I could not live with those fifty thousand people in front of me every night, because I would have to make sure that everything is working, the light, the sound, enough doctors for medical emergency, enough security. There is so much that goes into it, you could not possibly do that every night. Everything is our personal responsibility; it has to be, because it bears our name.