Jimmy Kay From Canada's The Metal Voice spoke with Canadian Thrash legends Razor Guitarist Dave Carlo. Carlos spoke about the upcoming new Razor studio album, his current relationship with former singer Stace 'Sheepdog' McLaren as well as his persistence to record and play music live regardless of his on going health problems.
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When asked about the status of the new Studio Razor Album "The last studio album was 1997 , that's 21 years. I finally completed the music portion of the album and really feeling good about that. A wave of relief and a bit of exhaustion and I am happy and satisfied with the material and now I am looking forward to get the lyrics done. The band is now going to start working on these songs. I gave the band the completed demo songs, no guitar solos no vocals just the music and we are going to get together in the next two weeks and start working as a group to get the music down and tight so we can go into the studio. As far as lyrics go I am guessing it's going to take me about two weeks I'm not sure if anybody else will write lyrics on the album. I am probably going to write most of them if not all of them just because it's been 21 years and I got plenty of things to say. " When asked when the new album will be released "The studio is booked for August 2018 because before that we have some gigs that we have to get ready for, one in Los Angeles Strikefest in June 22 2018 and then we have a show in Finland in early August. So the second week of August we go into the studio and we will have the album recorded by the end of the month. I have the artwork in progress too. So we will have everything done that we need to do by the end of August and then we will hand it off to the record company Relapse Records. There will be Cd and Vinyl. The record company has promised me a big push on this release. The record company did tell me from a timing standpoint it could take about 4 months to get the album out so your talking about Christmas time frame as a release date maybe a little bit earlier maybe a bit after about late 2018 earlier 2019." When asked about the new direction of the new album "The reason we did this new album was because over the last couple of years we have done a lot of shows a lot of renewed interest and enthusiasm for the band. I created something that I think won't disappoint anybody I know which albums are the favorites of the majority of our fans, I know what they are looking for. I wrote this album to please myself first and if I am pleased I hope other people are too. " When asked if he would reunite with original vocalist Stace Sheepdog McLaren "Stace did an interview in 2014 with (Bravewords) and he said a lot of stuff that in my view was stupid and I told him that direct to his face but I also did a counter article where I wanted to set the record straight. I didn't like doing that I hate that, talking about behind the scenes stuff, so I was really pissed off. For a long time I did not want to talk to him and then I finally decided I'm not going to hold a grudge, so I talked to him 2 months ago. I don't have interest in getting all negative with people. I like to look in the future positive. I was really excited about doing a reunion about 5 years ago but after that article it kind of just flew away from me I just didn't feel like doing it anymore. Stace is a great singer he is a real talented guy I'm not saying that someday I would not get on the stage with him if things lined up but I'm not going to work on a project with him but I will talk to him, I am not going to carry any hate."
When asked how he plays guitar being Semi-blind (Low -vision)
"Well I can't see my hands when i am playing I have a central vision issue, the problem is called 'Stargardts Macular Dystrophy' it started when i was 32 just about the time i did Decibels Album. All of my eye sight is at the side of my eyes (peripheral vision) I can't see straight ahead. When I record I have to put pieces of fluorescent tape on the side of the guitar freight board and when I play live use glow in the dark stickers so I can see with my side vision. I take my inspiration from Tony Iommi and Stevie Wonder. Sometimes I need a little help getting on the stage cause I can't see so well in the dark and one of the things I worry about is falling off the stage so I get people to put tape down in strategic areas so I know don't cross that line." Up coming Shows LOS ANGELES STRIKE FEST 2018 USA Sat, Jun 23 Setembro Negro Festival 2018 Finland Sat, Sep 29 — Sun, Sep 30