Hey, thanks for listening to the Dan Time Podcast.
I'm Dan McArdle. Happy to bring you another episode
with somebody who's making a big, big difference
in the world. This show, as you know, maybe you
don't know, is often centered around me talking
with fellow Dans, having what I call Danversations.
And that will always be a part of the show. But
as you've seen, there are times when I branch
out, I bring in somebody from my network or other
guests not named Dan that are perhaps tied to
my past, tied to my interests and so forth. And
so I want to reinforce that this podcast, Dan
Time, is not directly about me. There'd never
be an episode where I spend a five. eight, ten
minute monologue talking about my week and all
the irritating or humorous things that happened.
That's just not going to happen here. It's all
about shining the light on the particular guest.
And today, this is a big deal. Just over a year
since our last conversation, I had a chance to
reconnect with Sean Perry, lead singer and rhythm
guitarist, for the world's only note -for -note
album quality tribute to Metallica. We met about
an hour and a half before they took the stage
at Vinyl Music Hall in Pensacola, Florida, Saturday,
March 16th. And just like our first meeting,
February 2024, episode number 24, Sean was a
complete gentleman, incredibly forthcoming. and
willing to open up about why he does what he
does, what drives him to cover all these highway
miles across nearly two decades, performing some
of the most intricate songs from Metallica's
back catalog that other bands either won't even
touch or, quite frankly, can't honor the original
versions as accurately as the Four Horsemen.
In this conversation, Sean opens up. About the
past 12 months or so, and the challenges he's
been through, the grief that he's been through,
and the people he has impacted. And I was fortunate
enough to see once again, firsthand, the magic
that happens when Sean, Luke, Alec, and Drew
take the stage. How they delight and ignite these
audiences. I saw fans, young and old, and everybody
in between jumping up and down, banging their
heads, pumping their fists, singing the songs.
My brother Rob traveled down with his wife Nancy
from Birmingham to spend a weekend out at Pensacola
Beach and come to the Four Horsemen concert.
And we had the best time, as always. And you're
going to find out in this conversation why the
Four Horsemen have sold out multiple venues on
this most recent tour, heading into about a two
-week break. It's much more to Sean Perry than
just faithfully performing the Metallica classics.
It's about spreading joy. And on that note, let's
get to the conversation now. You can find links
to the Four Horsemen website in the show notes,
www .fourhorses .com. Follow this show at DanTimePod
on the socials. DanTimePod at gmail .com. All
right, let's get to it now. What a pleasure.
What a great guy. It's Sean Perry time. Okay,
sitting here once again. Can't believe a year
has passed. February 2024. Sean Perry, lead singer
for the Four Horsemen. The only note -for -note
album -quality tribute to Metallica. And it's
a real pleasure getting to do this again, Sean.
How's it going tonight? It's going well. We're
a little road wary, but we're ready for tonight's
show. I think it's going to be a good one despite
the concerns of the weather. I guess the Floridians
down here are used to this. They're not really
all that scared. No tornado warnings or hurricanes
or anything on the rise. It's just some thunderstorms,
so I think we're going to have a good show. Yeah,
I was just thinking, standing outside, it's a
good night to send Marty back to 1985. Yeah,
like I said, we've been out. We've been doing
more runs now, and it's growing. It's all growing.
We've got a new front of house guy. We've got
thousands and thousands of dollars in new gear
that's running for production, and now it's nice
to see some of the goals I had over the last
year come to fruition. So we're moving in the
right direction. Well, your post on social media,
there's, I mean, just the excitement that people
share online. And then here we are. It's, you
know, right before 7 p .m. local time. But I
saw the Metallica shirts out here on Palafox
Street at 530. People are ready. They're excited.
Do you see that when you get rolling to towns
and you go grab something to eat that afternoon
and you see people that are probably going to
the gig later? Yeah, actually, we see it a lot
because a lot of times we're out there looking
for food as well. And today was no different.
We walked down to a Mediterranean place. And
as we're coming back, we went to the chocolatier
place down the street, which I'm a huge chocolate
guy. I love like really good chocolate. So I
was talking to that guy while I was there. Metallica
shirts poured in and some guy came up and said,
hey, you know, can I get a picture with you?
And I'm like. Who am I? But it's funny. We see
that a lot, but sometimes they don't even recognize
us, and we'll just be standing in line with them,
and there's like four or five guys with Metallica
or Megadeth shirts on, and we're always like,
they're probably coming to the concert tonight.
And then usually we do see them later, like,
hey, we saw you at the restaurant earlier, and
I was like, oh, yeah, that's right. I don't want
to interrupt their day or anything, but some
people recognize us, and it's always fun. They're
always pleasant, too, so it's fun to just say
hello before the show. Well, this is, I think,
my third time seeing you guys, and you've got
to be hearing those remarks from fans that they're
saying, hey, this is my fifth time or my fourth
time. Anytime they see the Four Horsemen coming
to town, they're not missing that date. Yeah,
we honestly, I've got people that. will email
me and tell me how many times they've seen it
and they're coming to the next one. Some lady
told me her eighth time seeing us last week even.
I'm like, you must travel because, you know,
the route we've gone, we did Mercury Ballroom
in Kentucky on Friday. We did Bristol, Tennessee
on Saturday. We did Pelham, Tennessee, the caverns
on Sunday, which was a really cool place when
we ended up with like almost 500 people showed
up to that, which was good for us because we've
never been there. And then not yesterday, but
the day before Thursday, we played in, what was
that place called? Southport Hall in Jefferson,
Louisiana. And that's five miles away from New
Orleans. And now we're here. So, yeah, it's kind
of cool. See people and they'll tell us after
the show, man, I just brought my kids this first
time. I'm like, oh, it was both you guys' first
time. No, I've seen you guys five times. I just
wanted to make sure my kid's old enough now to
come out and see you. And I was like, yeah, that's
really cool, man. So, yeah, it's still got a
lot of camaraderie. We love engaging the fans
during the show, after the show, at the merch
booth. We always say hello and try to shake hands,
take pictures, whatever they want to do. And
I think that helps us connect with people better
than just acting like rock stars and whisking
off into the night afterwards to go to our hotel
or go drinking or whatever. We don't really party
or anything, but I feel like they deserve our
time. We wouldn't be here if they're not buying
the tickets, so we should at least say hello
after the show if they want to stick around to
do that. So it's more than just come here and
do a show and pack it. I like to give people
as much as we can give them. I remember I wrote
this down last time because, folks, if you haven't
heard the first episode, I can't believe this
is episode number 90 and Sean was on number 24.
But he shared a story. I won't tell the whole
story, but there was a Metallica fan, Four Horsemen
band fan that had a son, or maybe she wasn't
a fan of the group, but she said, can you talk
to my son because he won't talk to me? And Sean,
you were telling me how you more or less counseled
some kids that come to these shows, and they
get a lot out of this music. They don't have
enough money to go see the... Go see Metallica
on the M72 tour. I mean, who's got? Some people
do. Lots of people do. Well, you know, a lot
of people do. But, yeah, you know, again, with
the whole access to the band, no disrespect to
Metallica, but they're huge. James can't go out
there and be accessible to 60 ,000 fans. It's
just, it's impossible. He wouldn't be able to
talk for days after that, you know. Me. There
might be 600 fans at a venue or 1 ,000 fans at
this venue, but 75 % of them are walking out
the door, 80 % even, and we'll end up with, I
don't know, maybe 100 people in line at some
places, maybe 50 in line at another place. I
think we were up in Illinois when that mother
came up to me and she said, you know, my son
loves Metallica, but he has withdrawn. socially
and you know he's got an attitude and he doesn't
want to talk to me or his father but he loves
this music so i thought maybe this would help
open him up if i brought him to the show would
you you know would you be able to talk to him
and i said absolutely bring him over you know
and i talked with him and i i was like okay this
kid's probably having a hard time with life in
general and i had a very hard time when i was
a kid so i could relate to him and he like instantly
like felt like he could trust me and opened up
and his mom was crying and hugging me and stuff
and I'm like look you know I thought this was
just going to be a band I thought this was just
going to be I love playing hard heavy fast aggressive
riffs and stuff and I you know I was getting
into the singing and stuff but as as the years
have gone by and this is my more than 19 years
now I'll be in June will be 19 and a half years
of doing just this band You see things turn into
other things that you never thought it would
be. I never thought that I would sort of counsel
a young teenager who his mother was like, I don't
know what to do. I'm literally, I have no answers
for why my son is acting this way. And then I
get him to open up because I could relate. And
it's like, okay, it's not just a band anymore.
This is part of my purpose. And no egotistical.
nothing behind that i just i realize that if
i can help i should if i can say something and
help someone's day brighten or if i can help
someone open up or give them a hug you know i
mean last year what was that february that we
had this talk two months later my dad died i
was 12 hours away loading into a sold -out show
and I was with my drummer, Drew, and we were
having breakfast, and I was just getting ready
to leave, and my brother called me and said,
you know, Dad's gone. And this was unexpected.
No signs, no nothing. It was diabetes, and he
had a hard time regulating his sugar because
he didn't eat right. It's hard on everybody to
just always be eating right. So it was a sudden,
unexpected death. And my father was the whole
reason I got into music. So it tore my heart
out, and I had to play a show that night. And
my drummer was like, are we going to go home?
Do you just want to cancel the show? And I had
to sit there for a minute, and I'm like, my dad
would have been so pissed if I would have canceled
the show because these people... Let me back
it up. Two years before this, he almost died.
In 2022, my dad almost died. 800 blood sugar.
He had pneumonia. He had two arteries 80 % blocked.
And he was in Florida, and I was in Connecticut,
which is ironic because here we are in Florida
now. But I called him because my brother said,
Dad's going into the operating room. I'm like,
what the hell is going on? So I called him up,
and I said, I'm going to have my wife drive the
van and trailer home. I'm getting on a plane.
And he said, don't you dare cancel that show
on those people. They've been waiting for months,
and some people really, really need that. You've
got to give that to them. He goes, I'm going
to make it. I'm going to be all right. I'm like,
no, I'm getting on the plane. He goes, don't
you dare cancel that show. And he made it, of
course. We had another two years with him. So
when I was sitting there at breakfast and Drew
asked me, should we go home, I said, you know,
I can't do anything for him. He's gone, and there's
no way. knowing this, if he somehow knew this,
there's no way he would tell me to go cancel
the show to be with your dead father. There's
nothing you can do for him. So I said, no. He
loved this band. He cherished every time he could
come out to a show, he cherished it, and he always
paid. He never asked to get in for free. So I
said, we got to go do this for these people.
And that was probably the hardest show I've ever
done. It was at Soundcheck Studios in Pembroke,
Massachusetts. About maybe four or five songs
into the set, I told everybody in the crowd what
had happened, you know, and I said, my dad loved
this band, and he knew that sometimes people's
only joy throughout the whole week, maybe even
the whole month, is to just, I bought these tickets,
I can't wait to go to whatever show it is, ACDC,
Led Zeppelin, Metallica, whatever, maybe even
the Four Horsemen. But he understood that people
really, really need... that joy in their lives.
And for me to cancel that, that meant it was
a sold -out show. That would have meant 600 people
would have been disappointed and sad or angry
or whatever. And I thought, I need to give this
to them. So I told them about it during the middle
of the show. Everybody was respectful and stuff.
And the last song of the night, we played Fade
to Black. And one of the lines in Fade to Black
was, death greets me warm, now I'll just say
goodbye. it's like one of the last lines i think
and uh when i sing now i will just say goodbye
instantly a thought in my head i never got to
say goodbye to my dad and it started to make
me like like even right now it's making my uh
sorry i never got to say goodbye and um it crushed
me to finish that song it crushed me uh Well,
as soon as the song got done, I just, I collapsed
down on the drum rise and I started crying. And
I'll tell you this, the entire place went silent.
There was no cheers, there was no hooting and
no hollering, nothing. Everybody was just standing
there. And I think at first they just didn't
really know how to react. And then people started
calling my name out and like the slowly clapping
and cheering for me, you know, like, we love
you and stuff. the band was like go on in the
back just just sit down i said no we're not done
we need to get out and shake hands take pictures
sign autographs whatever they want to do so we
went out to the um merch booth and i can't tell
you how many people come up grabbing my shoulder
saying a prayer for me right there hugging me
we're so sorry i'm so glad that you're here with
us you know and i just felt a warmth from the
from the crowd and i was just like It would have
been wrong to not give these people something
that they gave me back in return the same night.
You know, I needed that support. And it was there.
And still, you know, I have a very, I don't,
this was like a year ago and I'm like almost
in tears over it again. But I have to tell you,
the Horseman family of fans are wonderful, beautiful
people. And I. this is my life now. I gave up.
I had rentals. I sold them all. I had an IT company.
I have no clients left. All I have done for the
past several years is focus on this band, and
now I feel like every day I wake up, I have to
find shows. I have to bring this out to people.
I have to help people experience joy with this
because they love what we're doing. They love
the old Metallica stuff, and I want to give them
that. So yeah, it's really, this has turned into
my life. This is why I breathe. It's why I get
up. You draw strength from the horsemen faithful
just as they draw strength from you. Yeah, definitely
that night was a testament to that very statement.
I couldn't believe it. I didn't expect that.
At the end of the night, I didn't expect that
silence, but it was almost like they wanted to
respect me for 20 seconds. And then they started
all clapping and cheering and stuff, and it's
like, wow, man. this is incredible you know it's
one of the hardest days of my life but it was
also one of the warmest and you know it takes
it takes a little something bigger than you to
be told that your hero the person who got you
involved in music the person who from you know
a very young age was the guy you thought was
the best guy in the world we all think our dads
are awesome To lose that guy and have to go out
and act like nothing's wrong when everything
was wrong. That really took strength that I didn't
even think I had. But when I saw the crowd, when
I realized my obligation is here, this is now,
I have to do this, I can't falter. It just got
me through it, just to know that they needed
that. And sometimes it's like you've got to put
your own heartache aside. and do what you're
obligated to do. And I'm obligated to spread
that joy as much as possible. Gosh, Sean, imagine
people. Somebody in that audience that night
had a really traumatic week. They had something
happen in their lives that, like you said, they're
looking forward to that show. They've been looking
forward to it for months. Either just go have
some fun, blow off some steam, or they've...
had loss in that year something like that and
you were there for them and uh wow what what
a powerful story it's you know that venue not
to keep going on this i love that venue we'll
always play that venue as long as i can the year
before it a lady and her her son i think it was
it was either one or two years before Actually,
no, it was the same year because we were playing
it two times a year. A lady came, and I don't
name drop about this, but I'll tell you, her
and her son love Metallica. They would come to
our shows, apparently always come to any time
we came out to sound check, and I didn't know
this until she had a tragedy. She was going to
give us a piece of artwork that she had made.
Metallica -esque artwork. And I said, oh, that's
beautiful. Bring it out to the show. He goes,
me and my son will be there. Two weeks before
the show, her son got killed in a car accident.
She came to the show anyway. She said, my son
would want me to be here with you guys. And she
gave me the piece of art. And I was like, oh,
my God. You know, it broke my heart. And then
the very next year, my dad passes when I'm at
that venue. And then... The year after our last
show there, my wife's father ends up in the emergency
room that night during our show. I see her in
the doorway in the side stage, and she's bawling,
and I don't know what's going on, and I'm playing
for these people. So between songs, I ran over,
and she said, My dad's in the emergency room.
And I'm like, What's wrong? She goes, We don't
know. And I'm like, You've got to be kidding
me. So I told the audience, and people were like,
please don't take this as our place as a black
blight on your life, and every time you come
here, something bad happens. I'm like, no, I'm
not. It's just the irony. I'm not superstitious,
but wow, the irony of that place is like, man,
next time I go there, I don't want anything going
wrong. I just want it to be a show, and we can
all just have a good time together. But her father,
he made it out, and everything was okay, and
it was a scary moment for us all. I was like,
man, three things in a row have happened at that
venue, and two of them have directly affected
my psyche and how I felt I was going to perform
that night. But, yeah, it's a little crazy. I'm
not superstitious. It's just a little ironic,
too ironic. Sean, when I first met you a year
ago, and I didn't know any of these stories yet,
what you've gone through, what your background
was, you know, driving garbage trucks, working
in a sheet factory, Sheeting plastics, going
to school, financing your own schooling to get
the I .T. degree to start the business, writing
the three records, all this stuff. All that was
new to me in the night that we spoke, dealing
with some back pain. And I'm just, you know,
I was just getting to know you in those few minutes.
I'm thinking this guy is about to hit the stage
in an hour and a half and and just, you know,
deliver on the highest level. How does he do
it? What keeps him going? But talking to you
again tonight, I'm reminded of what drives you.
And you said something in that episode that is
just the coolest thing. You said, I think speaking
of all the guys in the band, we are regular people
who want to spread joy. Sometimes people on the,
I don't want to say the outside, but they hear
this music. It's kind of loud. It's very loud.
It's very aggressive. It doesn't sound like what
you hear on the local radio station. And people
maybe have a misconception of the types of people
who love this music, that we're angry and we're
evil. And we're actually some of the most caring,
dedicated, loyal people. We make up that community.
And I kind of see what drives you now. You get
so much out of this, and you know people are
counting on you. Yeah, and I do agree with you
about the community. I mean, this music, if people
are on the outside, let's say people listen to
old -time country, the sad song stuff where you
play the record backwards, you get your dog back,
your house back, your wife back. They may not
look at this music and say, that community is...
a very close -knit community that respects each
other and and has good high morals or whatever
because they would listen to the music oh god
that's scary stuff to me but in the metal community
first of all our stuff was never mainstream if
you wanted to hear it you had to find it Like
when you and I were growing up, it was cassette
tapes. It was vinyl. There was no internet. We
didn't have pagers and cell phones. We didn't
even have microwaves. I'm dating myself, but
I don't care. We were the tightest community
you could find musically because we had to stick
together to share the music with each other.
All the underground bands like Metallica, Megadeth,
Slayer, Anthrax, they wouldn't even exist if
we weren't sharing tapes, buying their stuff
and sharing it with our friends. Because the
record companies, or the radio stations, I could
say, they didn't want that stuff on their programming.
That was devil music. Like, you know, you would
think the typical stereotypical thing would be
for us was like, oh, these people are a bunch
of devil worshipers. And it's like, dude, we're
just normal people, too. We just like different
style of music. It doesn't mean we're bad people.
I mean, I know guys that are surgeons that love
Metallica, love Megadeth. I know guys that are
in IT. I know guys that do all kinds of... technical
type of job i mean i was in the it field myself
i met all kinds of people that like oh man you're
in a metallic attribute that's awesome and uh
you know you they're professionals you know i
used to have short hair and and i wore khakis
and a polo and you know sometimes suits to work
you know i understand and then there was the
other jobs i had like you said you know i drove
a recycling truck and i i had to wear you know
car hearts in the winter time to stay warm and
it's just whatever man i think the community
is made up of everyone everyone and and you think
about this i mean i like classic rock I like
a little bit of death metal. I love thrash metal.
That's my thing. But I like even some country
stuff I can listen to and say, man, that guy's
really like Brad Paisley. That guy can shred
on guitar. He can. Solos. If you doubt me, go
on YouTube and look up Brad Paisley shredding
on guitar. It's amazing. The guy is gifted, and
it's like you have to respect that as a guitarist
because he could rip a bunch of metal guitar
players a new asshole if he wanted to. My kids
love the Cars movies, and he's got a track on
I think the Cars 2 or 3 soundtrack, and it's
all instrumental, and it's just metal riffing.
He's an amazing guitar player, a very, very gifted
man. But he played country. That was his thing.
But that doesn't mean he can't play other styles,
and it probably doesn't mean he doesn't like
other styles, because if he's doing a soundtrack
that sounds more metal, then obviously we know
the answer is he's not just a country guy. He's
just varied in his tastes and what he likes to
do. Same thing with me. I mean, I've written
blues songs before that I would never put out
on my old metal albums because it just didn't
fit the format. But yeah, I used to write blues
stuff. I mean, who doesn't like blues? Come on.
I mean, metal's kind of based off of that, to
be honest. But yeah, the community is tight.
The community is respectful. And I think that
well -rounded in the type of human beings that
you're going to come across if you come to a
metal show. We get all races. We get all creeds.
And we don't care. If you're there, you're a
brother or you're a sister. And that's all it's
all about. So when you say what does drive me,
when you talked to me last year, yeah, that was
maybe half a month after I picked Luke up. That's
what hurt my back. It still hurts, but not, I
mean, I've been going to a chiropractor for a
year because of that injury. But yeah, I was
fresh out of thinking I was 25 again, and I picked
him up side stage between sets at the House of
Blues Cleveland, which was the last show my dad
ever was there alive for. And I just totally
pulled something in the middle of my back, and
it's like, man, I'm still feeling that today.
Thankfully, not nearly as much pain now, and
now it's just a dull pain. But, yeah, I get driven
by the pure energy of what's going on. I don't
listen to my body at that point where it says,
you know, you've been in this squat stance for
two hours. Your legs are on fire here, buddy,
or your back is killing you, or your throat is
really swollen because you're doing all these
kill -em -all and you're screaming all the kill
-em -all lyrics. I'm like, I don't care. I'll
do whatever I have to do to get through that
show. And if it means that I have to squat down
and look like James, even though I'm not nearly
as tall as James, I will do it because that's
what the fans paid to see. I do not want to waste
their time. I don't care about the money. You
can always make more money. I tell people this
all the time. I can never give you your time
back. So if you enjoyed the set, I did my job.
If you didn't... then that's the worst embarrassment
I could have is I didn't try hard enough. I'll
tell you this. We do not phone it in. We will
never phone it. If someone in my band phones
it in, I will be up their ass, and they will
not do that shit again because the fans deserve
the fucking best. You were talking about Luke,
and I've seen the way that he maneuvers that
stage. I mean, he's running circles around the
place. Tell me again the bass. Alec. Alec. the
chemistry that they have, your drummer, Drew.
I noticed last time, folks, I won't give any
details away, but if you love some of the Black
Album songs, come and hear Wherever I May Roam
and how this is delivered and the punch that
the Four Horsemen give that song, that particular
song. The set list kind of mixes around, changes
around night to night. How do you decide, is
it while you're kind of on the road? Let's mix
these two songs around. Let's start with this
one. How are you coming up with the set list?
Actually, it's really simple. I'm an IT guy,
so everything is saved on my computer. I have
set lists that are 13, 14 years old for certain
venues. And what I do is I look at Vinyl Music
Hall. Okay, last year we played these songs.
Some of these songs I still have to play. You
don't get to go through a show without playing
Enter Sandman or One. I have to play those songs.
Master of Puppets, I have to play that song.
Other songs like Wherever I May Roam, I could
swap that out for The Unforgiven or Don't Tread
on Me or Nothing Else Matters. You know what
I mean? So what I do is I take out last year's
set, I put it on my screen, and I put another
one up in front of me, and I say, okay, we're
going to swap six, seven, eight songs so that
the people who came last year, if they kept my
set, they're going to see that I didn't just
throw them at the same songs again. I try to
mix it up and make it fun for them and say, oh,
you didn't play this song last time. No, we didn't.
And you remember that. You remembered that. And
some people say, oh, you played the song that
I asked you to play last year. I'm like. That
was luck. I didn't remember that. It was luck.
There's too many songs, there's too many shows,
too many people asking for this, this, or that.
Sometimes I get lucky and guys are like, you
remember it? I'm like, yeah, no. But I do get
lucky sometimes. But, you know, it's all black
and back. It's all 1991 back to 83 so far. We
occasionally throw in stuff that's outside of
that format, but usually it's one. Maybe two
songs. Yeah, we've done Whiskey in a Jar. We've
done Helpless. We've done Megadeth even. Long,
long time ago. Not with this lineup. I used to
do King Nothing and Fuel. And I think we're going
to probably bring those back in. But that's going
to be for like... fairs and festivals where it's
a very very family oriented event and they you
know possibly don't want to hear fight fire with
fire blasting over their ferris wheel so yeah
i'll lighten it up for that stuff but i mean
it's not going to be a whole set of like you
know load reload saint anger we don't do anything
off saint anger probably never will i just i
don't like the album don't tell james i said
that you know to to that to that point though
James was on an interview one time, and I remember
him saying, he goes, you know, I'm not going
to write the same album for 40 years. And that's
the understanding that I have now of some of
the Metallicas. People are like, oh, what do
you think of this album? What do you think of
that album? What do you think of this album?
I'm like, dude, I like what I like, and my opinion
means jack. It's my opinion. So if I don't like
this song or I do like that song, neither opinion
should weigh on you in any shape or form. If
you like what's going on and you want to come
to the shows, great. If you don't like it and
you want to see some other Metallica shit because
they play all the new stuff and you like the
new stuff better than the old stuff, then you're
going to go to that show. So my opinion doesn't
mean jack shit. And I don't push it on anybody
else. But when people ask me, a lot of times
I'll give them a straight answer. But I won't
put it out there publicly. Oh, this album blows.
Why would I do that? That's just going to piss
off Metallica fans. And Metallica knows who we
are. They absolutely know who we are through
other people in the industry who know who we
are, who are friends with Metallica. And one
of those guys is Brian Wheat from Tesla. He's
a dear friend of mine now. He's talked to them
about us, and I didn't even want him to do it.
I just don't want to get shut down. My whole
thing is, and I don't, we're not a threat to
Metallica. No band is a threat to Metallica.
But my whole thing is, I don't want to ruffle
feathers. I don't want to piss anybody off. I'm
just looking to do what I do. I'm grateful to
do this. I'm blessed that we have people who
even want to come and see us. We have a lot of
haters out there like, oh, Metallica's still
touring. What the hell do you think you're doing?
I'm doing what I like. That's what I tell people.
They're like, oh, you're not James Heffield.
I'm like, no, I'm not. I'm an entertainer. That's
all I am. I'm a clown at a clown show. I am.
I didn't write the music. You know, the Ringling
Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, they didn't
create the circus. They're just recreating it
for people all over the world, right? That's
what we're doing because Metallica is not coming
to Vinyl Music Hall. I guarantee you that. They're
not coming to Soundcheck Studios. They're not
coming to Clyde Theater. All the places that
we play, Metallica will never show up. Maybe
one of them will and just watch the proceedings,
right? Which would be an honor. I don't expect
it. But if they came out, they're going to get
the same show that anybody else gets. I'm not
scared of, you know, if James, if all of them
walked into our show, I'm not scared one bit.
I've been doing this almost 20 years. I'm ready
for it. Right? And they're going to get the same
show the rest of the audience would get. And
I hope that they would enjoy it. That's all.
So, yeah, it's about spreading joy. It's about
being an entertainer. And I'll tell you, I'm
very, very grateful and very, very blessed. And
the rest of the guys feel the same way because
we could all be back doing regular jobs. And
that would just be our life. But we're fortunate
that people want to see this band. I think if
they walked in, like you said, I just want to
call out Drew for a second. What a dedicated
professional. I kind of have an affinity for
drummers. I played with some guys, never played
in a full -scale band, but I like drums. His
dedication to, again, the note -for -note honoring
of the catalog. He's all over it. He's locked
in. And you guys just have a chemistry. Again,
Hetfield, he's Papa Het these days. It's no knock
on him. But you're not going to go to a show
and see this 1988, 89, 90, 91 version of Hetfield
that I think a lot of fans would probably say
is maybe the best era, the best version. If you're
asking me, yeah, of course it's the best version
because that's what I grew up on. I don't know
if I told you this last time, but the music was
something that really saved me mentally when
I was a kid. We might have touched on this before,
but I get so passionate about playing this stuff
as closely as my abilities will allow me to play
it. to the album how did it sound on the album
what was the tone what was the aggressiveness
was it all down pickers was it was it uh alternate
picking what was going on with the drums like
my father was a drummer and a singer so like
you i gravitate towards drums as well drew is
a very very gifted and maniacal like very driven
he has to have it right like it takes him forever
to learn a new song Yeah, Disposable, Damaging,
Blackened, Fight Fire With Fire, Dyer's Eve,
you name it. I relish playing those songs because
I know he's going to have my back on that, and
it's going to be crystal clear. But yeah, that's
the thing with us. I want to give people that
older, vintage Metallica experience. We don't
do the pop -ahead version. I know some bands
out there do, and they wear the vest with all
the... patches on it and they got that old time
microphone that James sings through now and I'm
like no that's not us we are the pissed off broke
our van just broke down with two flat tires we're
that Metallica we're the hungry motherfuckers
that want to go out there and just take over
the world type of Metallica show and I think
a lot of people enjoy that because I've even
asked the crowd what do you want to see tonight
do you want to see Papa Head or do you want to
see pissed off James and I always get a huge
roar when I ask that question they want the pissed
off James era. They want, now I won't do this,
but take a swig of beer and spit it in the crowd.
What's up, motherfuckers? That's what they want.
And I know that they want that. We have kids
in the crowd, so I keep it toned down and I don't
spit liquids into the air. But I know that that's
the kind of show we're going to bring to them
and they're going to love it. And we have parents
all the time bringing kids to their show, little
kids, like two to 18. Tonight's all ages. Yeah,
so we're going to have kids in the crowd tonight,
and their parents are going to bring them up.
I had a father last year. His daughter had some
kind of ride to lightning. I think it was like
a whole skirt. It was incredible. It had lightning
all over it and shit, and I was like, dude, that's
amazing. He goes, this is her first show, and
I'm like. And the thing that kills me too, Dan,
is it was so weird when people first started
saying, this is my kid's first Metallica show.
This is the first time seeing Metallica. I'm
like. we're not Metallica. Don't tell your kid
that, you know, but I didn't want to say it to
the parent, but I was thinking in my head, I'm
sorry, you know, this is not Metallica. This
was 20 bucks. And it's a, you know, it's a 600
cap room, but I stopped trying to correct parents.
Cause I'm like, who am I to give them their opinion?
It's their opinion. They thought they just saw
Metallica. Well, if you think that that's wonderful,
that just means I'm doing my job, right? That's
all. I'm never going to, That's never going to
drive me and say, we're Metallica one day. That'll
never happen. I don't have that kind of ego.
I wouldn't be that arrogant. But it's such a
compliment. It warms my heart when people are
like, they liked it that much they called it
a Metallica show. It's like, this was Metallica
tonight. Well, maybe back in the day it could
have reminded you of a Metallica show. But it's
very humbling, very honoring. I'm glad to bring
it like that. But it's really cool. At the end
of the day, it's very cool. Well, Sean, I could
keep talking and talking, but you guys have a
show to play tonight. What are some of your favorite
places? You've been all over the place. Where's
a particular part of the country that you like
or a gig that stands out the past few months?
Oh, geez. Well, I would say Clyde Theater in
Fort Wayne, Indiana is a kick -ass venue. It's
top -notch. It's brand new. And it's not even
brand new, but it's got that brand new feel because
they're just meticulous on how they keep that
building. The entire facility is immaculate.
The sound equipment there is incredible. It's
all from Sweetwater right down the road, the
headquarters. And we love playing that venue
because they treat you like you are the band.
And the fans are very, very... energetic out
there, very respectful. I don't think I've ever
seen a pit, and I don't really try to create
pits. I don't like pits myself because people
get hurt. We just had a pit in Michigan, I think,
right before my birthday, and somebody split
their head open, and I was like, ah, that's why
I don't like pits. You know, you get hurt. But
Indiana, we have great crowds. Michigan, we have
incredible crowds the last three years running.
Two of the venues, Machine Shop and District
142, we've sold them out three years in a row,
both places. One's a 550 -cap, the other's an
800 -cap room. Incredible, incredible response
there. Virginia, Virginia in particular, Tallyho
Theater in Leesburg, which is like a little north
of Washington, D .C., those guys, that's a 600
-cap room, and they sell it out as well. I think
the last three times we've sold that one out,
and we've been playing there twice a year. Now,
we're not playing there this May. because Metallica
is going to be at the stadium with Virginia Tech,
where the football guys are. They're going to
be there, I think, in April. And so we talked
with the owner, and he said, yeah, it might not
be a good idea to compete with the real thing.
And I said, no, I don't want to do that. I don't
want to split our fans up, because it's a lot
of money. If they're going to go to Metallica,
they're going to drop a lot of money. And I feel
like asking them to do that, to come to our little
show. as well is like it's too much so I just
figured why don't we just we usually do May and
November in at Tally Ho so this year we're just
doing November and I talked with the owner about
this so Virginia is such a good crowd for us
that I said give me the Friday and the Saturday
and we're going to do our own no repeat weekend
and he said Do you think it'll sell? And I said,
yes, because I'm going to release the set lists
ahead of time. I'm going to show people what
they're getting, but I'm not going to show them
what night, what song. You buy one ticket, it's
going to be double what the price of one regular
show would be, right? So if it's a $20 ticket,
uh -oh, it's $40. But here's the kickers. You're
going to see the set lists. It will be nothing
past the Black album. It will be the first five
albums. Kill Em All, Ride of Lightning, Master
of Puppets, and Justice for All, black album.
We do do like one song off of the EP, the 598
Garage Days, not Garage Inc. We do one song off
of that as far as we do Helpless, and sometimes
we break out Am I Evil or Blitzkrieg from Kill
Em All, but they also threw that on Garage Inc.
And I had people telling me, oh, yeah, it's on
Garage Inc. I'm like, no, it's on Kill Em All.
I have the cassette to prove it. So the other
thing I was going to say about our no -repeat
back -to -back weekend at Tally Ho, I think it's
like November 21st and 22nd, is that Metallica
plays 16 songs. They release their set lists
all the time after the shows, and you can see
it's always 16 songs. We're going to play a minimum
of 21 songs per night, back -to -back. So you're
going to get, instead of 32 songs, you're going
to get 42. You're going to get 42 songs that
weekend. $40 presale, I think it's a pretty good
deal. And so does the owner. And he thinks, you
know, we could probably sell this out. And I
was like, of course we will. You know, the Virginia
fan base we have are so loyal that they were
upset we weren't playing in May. And I said,
but Metallica. And they're like, we don't care.
And I'm like, well, that's, I don't know. I mean,
would 600 people say they don't care? I don't
know. But I said, we're going to wait. But we're
going to give you something special for waiting.
So this is the only time I've ever tried this.
And I hope that it is a sellout, and I hope we
can maybe move that to other markets that we're
really strong in, like Michigan, for instance.
That would be another one I would try it in.
But, yeah, there's been so many different markets,
like the Vixen in McHenry. It's another one,
800 cap room. I think we've sold it out a couple
of times, and good markets. So, you know, I'll
go anywhere where they'll have us, and they'll
show up in decent numbers. Well, and back in...
Black and back. I was starting to say back and
black. I know, that's the rub. But Metallica,
they have gotten around to playing most of these
songs, the first four or five albums, at least
once, with the exception of some of the black
album stuff. I don't think they really go back
to Struggle Within, My Friend of Misery. But
you guys play Eye of the Beholder sometimes.
They have not played that song, to my knowledge,
since 89 in its entirety. I can also tell you
another song they won't ever play again is Escape.
We play that often. We play it often. I like
the song. James was forced to write one more
song for Ride the Lightning. That was Escape.
It pissed him off. He said he wrote it in like
five minutes, and he was like, I don't ever want
to play the song again. it's on one of your best
albums and people gravitate towards that old
stuff and they like it now the vocals are extremely
hard to sing that might be one of the other reasons
why because you know it's it's a higher register
song if you think about singing it the way he's
saying it's it's hard to sing it up there especially
when you're tired at the end of the night but
it was if if you're asking for acceptable metal
on that album that's probably one of the more
acceptable songs as far as the tempo and the
demeanor of the song it wasn't Yeah, guitar solo
is awesome. I mean, Kirk was a monster back then.
He was so articulate, so clean, and so fast.
He was probably playing like every other hour
of every day. But yeah, those songs, I mean,
Eye of the Beholder, yes, we break that out.
Damage Inc., we break that out. Struggle Within,
My Friend of Misery, Escape, Motor Breath. I
want to get the guy. Here's the one song that
I want to get into this band is Metal Militia.
That song, I've not seen any tribute band even
attempt it. We used to play it when I had a different
lineup years ago. But you have to... Dave Mustaine
wrote that. And you can tell because the riff
where they're singing over top of, it's like...
And I'm like, yeah, that's a Dave riff. You can
tell. It's in his blood. Very, very... It's a
challenging thing, but I go over these songs
a lot. And that's one song, even though we haven't
played that song with this band, God, probably
a decade, I still play that at home because it's
such a hard song. I would have to start from
scratch again and relearn because you have to
start screaming before you start singing because
it's thunder and lightning. The gods take revenge.
Well, thunder and lightning, it's all scream.
and then the gods take revenge senseless destruction
and then so i'm like okay this is ass backwards
you don't get any time to warm your your vocal
up to that you gotta hit it like right off the
bat yeah yeah i love that love that so that that's
the song that i personally have told the guys
we will be putting that back in the set list
and the breakdown in the middle and it climbs
so there's so many technical aspects of that
song i'm like i've touted this band as being
the one that's going to play all the songs the
rest of them can't play we have to do that song
next that's like one of my like this year i want
that song done and in the in the set so i think
it's going to happen because i said so well whatever
songs whatever set list you guys put together
you're blowing people away every night you're
getting new converts if that's the way to say
it and um yeah from whether people are 16 or
66 years old they look forward to these shows
they make a big difference in people's lives
whether they got a lot going on or they just
have had a rough week at work or they've lost
a loved one but or just want to go out and have
a beer and have a fun time anyway you know it's
not all about loss or struggle It's just camaraderie
and what a vibe and energy in the room. It's
electric, you know, so people, they gravitate
towards what's exciting. And so do all of us,
right? You know, I love exciting stuff. All right,
Sean, well, you got to go. And I want to say
one more thing. This maybe was something your
dad could have instilled in you, but if it's
going to be, it's up to me. You said that on
our first conversation. I love that. Such an
awesome takeaway. I've heard that before, but
it's worth repeating. People listening, if you're
thinking about something, if it's just sitting
in that idea stage and something's holding you
back, get after it. Put that plan together and
follow whatever's driving you. Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
If you have an idea and you think you can or
you think you cannot, either way, you're right.
And I think that was a Henry Ford quote. Not
for me, but I mean, I never really understood,
you know, these. little phrases that famous people
had said, until you live it, until you really
live it. And it was like my life was shambles
back when I was 32 years old. I was so broke
and so hopeless. It was like I have nothing to
offer. I can't even offer anything to myself.
I couldn't pay my bills. I lost a house to foreclosure,
lost a car to repossession. I lost a fiance.
I lost everything that mattered to me. And it
was like at some point you just got to say, And
I'm either going to just be a pathetic person
or I'm in the most, you know, I'm in the country
with the most opportunity in the world. I can
do something if I put my energy and my focus
towards doing that and not hoping someone else
is going to just give it to me. You can't go
through life with your hand out because you're
going to go through life at the end of a highway
ramp. And that's not the way you want to end
up. You know, so it's like I've been there. Yeah.
Yeah, I lost everything. Everything. I mean,
even after I built myself up, I still lost almost
everything that I had gained. And I had to start
over again at 40 years old. So, you know, and
I'm not afraid. That was 10 years ago. I'm 50
now. I just turned 50 in February. So it's like
even when you are having things go your way,
it can still fall. All of it can fall apart.
And it did for me at 40 years old. It was like,
oh, got to start over again. And that was only
eight years after I got myself through school
and started making myself an IT career. So, yeah,
you have to rely on yourself because you're the
only person who's never going to let yourself
down. Everyone else will at some point in one
aspect or another. It could be big. It could
be small. But you're the only person that you
can rely on at the end of the day to get it done.
And that's how I live my life. So there you go.
Well, come out and see the Four Horsemen. If
you're on social media, Instagram, it's the Four
Horsemen official. And our website is www .4horses
.me, as in me, my person, me. And we're on Facebook
and Vans in Town and all that. You can get our
links. All of our links are on the website, www
.4horses .me. If you only know one song, two
songs, three songs, come out, bring a friend
with you, bring your girlfriend or your boyfriend.
You're going to have not just a blast, you're
going to create a lasting memory. If you want
to come back next time they come through town
and going almost 20 years in good chance. He's
coming back to your town. Thank you so much,
Sean. This is awesome. Looking forward to seeing
you tonight and you guys have a great week. Go
out there, make a difference in somebody else's
life and be good to yourself. We'll see you next
Sunday on the Dan time podcast.