FH: Considering Judas Priest being the predecessors of the NWOBHM, how was it recording with the "Metal God"? Was it an honor to you, or were you humble about it considering your own success?
BD: Recording with Rob is fantastic. The thing is, I never see singers in the studio, especially with Rob's caliber.
FH: On his new record, he sounds better than ever...don't you think?
BD: Oh Christ! There are voices and there are "voices"! I mean, my voice is straight out of the box...I mean, I don't think there is anything freakish about my voice. But Rob...Rob's a freak!! He has this voice, and I don't know how it happens, at all. I've seen him in the studio so hoarse that his speaking voice sounds horrendous. I'm like, "go to bed, don't speak...save your voice". Then he goes into the studio and out comes this Bastille scream! And, it's like "where the f**k does that come from!!" I've never heard anything like it...really, really astonishing voice!
FH: What inspired you to be a singer in a rock band?
BD: I originally wanted to be a drummer. As a kid, I was always banging on the walls so I always thought I would end up playing drums. The first bands that I really got into, in my opinion, all had fabulous drummers...Ian Paice of Deep Purple, Bill Ward out of Sabbath, John Bonham, Keith Moon...I loved Mooney's personality, in fact, he was a front-man who played the drums. But I also loved Ian Paice's ability and his technique, so I often fanaticized about being Ian Paice and Keith Moon all rolled into one. But it was an absolutely hopeless case because there was no way I was ever gonna get a drum kit. I mean, I couldn't even drive a car so how would I transport the kit? I knew this kid who used to play all these B.B. King songs on acoustic guitar and I used to help him out on the singing, and that's how I started singing. So, in the back of my head I thought, "maybe I can do this." I've done a lot of amateur dramatics as a kid, both in and out of the classroom, and I loved being onstage, although I can never be an actor because it took everything far too seriously. The problem with acting is they always have to make such a big thing out of it...I could never hang out with these people! So the ideal thing of being a rock and roll singer is combining the two elements. So, I was in a private boarding school and got slung out when I was 17, and I went back to regular high school for about half a year. And within about a week of being there, I overhead this conversation at the back of my class, these guys were saying "who are we gonna get to sing at the rehearsal next weekend." And I said, I can do that! It was a garage band. They didn't even have a proper microphone, they had this cassette player mic that was taped to a jack plug - it was useless - nothing came out of it at all except this awful feedback! But they said to me, "wow, you're the best singer we ever had - you're in the band." And I said, "Great! When do we start gigging?" And they said, "Gigging?? We don't do gigs, we just rehearse in the garage once a week. And I said, "you mean you don't write your own material?" And they said, "God, no". So, I ended up being the driving force of the band, and we actually did do some gigs. But then I went to the University and formed a college band, and we did a few gigs here and there. We used to borrow the college mini-bus without them [the faculty] realizing it. We'd take the seats out and load our gear in, and then return it at 4 AM and bolt the seats back in! Then I answered an advert in the back of a music magazine called Melody Maker that read: "Singer wanted to complete recording project." And I thought, "I'm a student, I've got no money and this is free studio time!" So, I phoned up, and they told me to send them a tape, and I said, "I haven't got a tape." And they said, "Well, just send us anything you've got." So I placed a cassette recorder in the corner of the room and I stood on the other side of the room and yelled a bunch of notes, and I sent that off to them. I phoned them a week later and asked if they got the tape and they said, "Yeah, it was really musical and you were doing these really interesting scales and tunes." And I said, "Oh you noticed!" (Laughs) Most other people thought it sounded like a load of shit!
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