My 25th Anniversary At WRIF – Craziest Interview – Meltdown
As my 25th anniversary at WRIF is coming up on November 1st, today it’s about the craziest interview.
I’ve been fortunate enough to interview some of my favorite rock artists, and some you might not suspect. For example, I just hung up with Liberty DeVitto, who played drums for Billy Joel for over three decades.
Years ago at a Grammy function in L.A., I was doing interviews with all sorts of “D” list celebrities. Someone said something I never forgot, they said to interview bands and artists that you might not normally, because you never know what might happen. I’ve always done that. Like when I interviewed Micheal McDonald from the Doobie Brothers last year. What a great guy! It’s fun to chat about music, and life in general, with some of these legends.
I’ve talked to Glenn Danzig in the hallway backstage at the Fillmore. I interviewed Fieldy from Korn in a shower room. I’ve even interviewed Head from Korn twice in the same afternoon! (That may be in an upcoming blog)
That brings us to the wildest interview I ever conducted. It was the summer of 2018 and Five Finger Death Punch was in town. I was told to meet with Ivan Moody’s security after the meet & greet to bang out a location to talk to him. They told me to meet in his dressing room at 5:30. No problem, so far. As we’re waiting for Ivan to come to the room, his security guy can’t seem find him. He tells us to hang tight and he’ll see what going on.
He returns to the room and say’s the Ivan wants to do the interview…..on the lawn! I said “Does he know the doors are open?” I was told he did and wanted to do it up there. OK, I’m always down for a challenge.
Around 5:45, here comes Ivan walking through the cement part of DTE between the lawn and the seats. He’s waving and hi-5ing everyone who sees him and now a crowd is gathering around him as he walks up the lawn to meet me on the hill.
The interview went off without a hitch and Ivan couldn’t have been nicer. His security dropped me a note about how cool it was after the show. The last time I talked to Ivan, that was the first thing he brought up.
Yes, in 25 years and the RIFF, that was one I’ll never forget…..watch it below.
-Meltdown-
