For Canada's The Metal Voice former Anthrax singer Neil Turbin (Deathriders) interviewed legendary NWOBHM guitarist Brian Tatler of Diamond Head at the Whisky in Los Angeles
Brain Tatler spoke to The Metal Voice about Metallica covering their song AM I EVIL, their new self titled album in 2016 and their longevity for 40 years
On the bands 40 year career
"There is no way on earth I would have presumed the band would still be going 40 years time, cause you can never see 6 months ahead or a year, it's a long time in rock and roll, to survive 40 years, well even I am impressed."
On the musical direction of their new self titled album
"This is our seventh album so I think there is little elements of all six on this album. I think we just had this idea, this time the album should sound like a Diamond Head album, we have never really done that before, it was always about progression. There probably is in the writing these days a little bit of playing to our strengths, using songs that sound like Diamond Head and rejecting those that don't sound very Diamond Head. Then we whittle it down to an album that reminds people of the past."
On his opinion on Metallica's cover of Diamond Head's 'AM I Evil'
"I found it flattering because we knew Lars. When we got a copy of Creeping Death the 12 inch single, Am I Evil was on the B side in 1984 so of course they were not a big band yet and in Europe they are signed to an indie label called Music for Nations and so it didn't seem like the big deal at the time because I just presumed this is just Lars' band and they covered a Diamond Head song. So we listened to it and thought wow they really go through so much trouble to learn every little lick and Metallica's done a very good job, very respectful job of covering the song. So I was really flattered but I didn't think they were going to be the biggest band in the world or anything like that. If somebody else likes your song enough to want to cover it, want to record it, you must be doing something right, it was a kind of nod."
On the writing process of 'Am I Evil'
"It did take a long time to write AM I EVIL we spent over a year writing that song it grew from a small part, we added sections, the intro, the end. the song grew to 7 minutes 40 seconds and its got tempo changes it has got very good dynamics and it's really hard to do that. I think dynamics are a part of a successful band."
"We do get people come to gigs and say I know this one. It is our big song, I'm glad to have it cause at least we got one big song"