THE DUKE - Stuck No More Page 3
by Martin Popoff

"And so what I decided to do was, I took all my stuff, packed it up and I moved to a cabin on top of a mountain, in north Georgia, literally, on top of a mountain, nine miles from the nearest gas station, three miles up a gravel road. And I just bought an acoustic guitar and a ProTools rig, and I just sat up and wrote music. I was at a point where I actually thought, maybe I'll just get a job. This music business just blows. It was a big pity party going on, and I was the only guest (laughs). And I just decided, man, I hated the whiner generation, the 'woe is me' culture that existed. And I thought, you know, I'm just going to write a record out here and see what happens."

Did you read a lot? Did you exercise? What did you do?

"Oh yeah, I'm an exercise fanatic anyway. But that's just part of my obsessive-compulsive behaviour. You know, people like me have two options. You either drink and do drugs, or you just dive into something else. So every day I rode my mountain bike up and down the mountain. I jogged, I built a gym in the cabin, so I trained furiously. And I did do a lot of reading. I'm really into politics, and just the culture of politics. I don't vote down party lines. I just find the whole process interesting. So I read some books from both perspective, just for my own entertainment."

Back in the bustle of Atlanta now for nine months, Ward is trying to stay positive. He knows he's got the goods - the recent Fozzy record, All That Remains is a headphone metal masterpiece - and now he's got a cool new franchise with which to create, emote, grow, hell, even tour.

THE DUKE - Stuck No More Page 4