DIEGO: He must of felt it coming.

JOEY: He knew I was buddies with them. He referred to them as 'your pot smoking friends.' I thought, 'hey, these guys are my buds!" (no pun intended). Here's the story... One day Greg called me for rehearsal and I gave him an excuse about a stomach ache or some bullshit like that. So we canceled rehearsal. Next thing I know, John calls me and asks if I wanted to come down and jam with Armored Saint. He said Mike (their old bassist) was not coming down so he told me I can play through his rig. I thought...OK! Well, Armored Saint rehearsed at the same place that Greg Leon rehearsed. So, I go down there and we're jamming out, smoking pot, just having the best jam ever. We're in the midst of this moment...this rad vibe...we just finished playing 'Stricken By Fate' when, all of a sudden, the door knocks. The door opens and all this pot smoke comes blowing out. And standing there is Greg Leon and our drummer Carl. It was frigid. The room went cold. It was like cheating on your lover. So they called me out into the hall and gave me this big speech. Made this big scene. They asked, 'What's going on here?!' And I was stoned out of my mind. I was like, duh, bla, duh! I had to lie through my teeth. But after that. it was pretty much set in stone. It was only a matter of time before I joined Armored Saint.

DIEGO: I'll ask one more question. We're getting to a point where history takes over. Armored Saint started becoming a very popular band, very fast. Lets talk about some of the first gigs you did with Armored Saint. Wasn't your first gig with the boys at the Troubadour?

JOEY: Yeah it was the Troubadour as far as Hollywood goes. But before that we did the battle of the bands at the Icehouse in Pasadena. That's what got us into the light.

DIEGO: Right...The full page ad in BAM Magazine...I remember now.

JOEY: Yeah, we won a full page ad in BAM magazine which got us tons of publicity.

DIEGO: What about the chair scene? The Troubadour used to have chairs and tables up in front of the stage. What changed that?

JOEY: You guys are classic for that! You started the scene that became the slam scene of the '80s. After that Troubadour gig, every club in Hollywood removed all chairs and tables from up front to make way for the coming metal scene. We were proud because we had you guys as our support. There were about 20 of you guys, and you would go nuts for us! It was crazy. People had never seen that shit before, especially in Hollywood. Up in front of the stage, it was a madhouse. Nobody had a concept of headbanging in Hollywood until you guys showed up.

DIEGO: Yep! (proudly). Those were the days! Hey man, We can talk all night. I'm sure the stories go on and on. We should just make a movie or something. I got some great stuff so I'm gonna leave it off here. Joey, my buddy, it's been awesome chatting with you. I'm sure we'll see each other real soon. Thanks for everything! It's been a childhood I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. Cheers!

JOEY: Anytime, man.

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