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Earlier this month, WWE celebrity Damian Priest made headlines by cashing in his Cash In The Financial institution contract to win the World Heavyweight Championship in a memorable second at night time two of Wrestlemania. A lifelong metalhead, Priest has made no secret of the impression heavy music has had on his life and profession, so when the champ was on the town for WWE’s present on the London O2 on Friday night time (April 19), we sat down with the person himself to speak about a few of his favorite bands, singing his personal theme tune and why steel and wrestling will all the time be comfy bedfellows.
You have stated that heavy steel had a huge effect in your life. In what approach?
“Music usually, it moulds your character. The way you gown, the way you discuss, your vibe. For me, heavy steel is the whole lot I like, as a result of I’ve all the time been into the bizarre, the odd, issues that are not regular. I like that vibe. I’ve all the time cherished that concept of being completely different, and [metal] simply made me really feel alive.”
What was your first publicity to steel?
“I grew up in an space that was 100% hip hop [The Bronx, New York], after which transferring to a special city and making new buddies, my buddy would all the time play Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, very thrash steel, but additionally Swedish influences like In Flames and Soilwork. And I simply bear in mind him enjoying Youngsters Of Bodom, and I used to be like, ‘OK, some of these items is like Undertaker music!’ As a wrestler I used to be like, ‘Yeah, play Undertaker-style music! Play that stuff that makes me really feel one thing!’ However I’d say that Metallica and Ozzy had been my first [bands] the place I used to be like, ‘Oh, I love this.’ That is what actually obtained me hooked on heavy steel.”
What was it about Metallica and Ozzy that hit you a bit extra deeply?
“The sound! It was simply extra highly effective to me. And the lyrics of their songs simply actually resonated with me and the way I felt, my perspective. I simply felt the facility run via me: the music, the guitar chords, all of it.”
Did you get the possibility to go to any steel reveals if you had been youthful? What was your first?
“My first live performance that my buddies took me to was In Flames and Opeth. It was wild. I might by no means seen a mosh pit. Did I am going straight in? Yeah, I obtained in there! I used to be like, ‘Yeah, I can beat everyone up!’ Haha! I’ve a horrible reminiscence, however that one lives with me and was one of many coolest issues I might ever skilled. L’Amour in Brooklyn, on the time, was an enormous heavy steel place.”
I’ve seen footage of you screaming right into a mic. Have you ever ever sung or performed in your individual band?
“I like the rock star vibe – that is what Damian Priest is – however I used to visitor sing rather a lot. I’d simply soar on stage and canopy some songs, primarily Pantera or Metallica. Most not too long ago, I used to be at Child Rock’s bar in Nashville and the band requested me if I needed to sing a track. I used to be like, ‘Positive!’, they had been like, ‘What would you like?’ and I stated, ‘Give me a Metallica track.’ Can I bear in mind which track it was? Enter Sandman. So it is easy, each band is aware of how you can play it, you understand how to sing it and get the group into it, in order that was cool. After which only recently I did the vocals for my very own theme track, which is fairly neat.”
What was that like?
“That was cool. That was a special expertise, going right into a studio and recording, having the blokes kinda coach me. I used to be outta my aspect, clearly, I might by no means recorded something like this, however everyone handled me good there.”
Steel and wrestling, it is all the time felt like there is a connection there. Each are ‘area of interest’ however each can fill stadiums. Do you are feeling there is a duality there?
“Ah, completely. I really feel like they go hand-in-hand. I imply, you see a wrestling present, you see a sea of black t-shirts, you go to a steel present, you see a sea of black t-shirts, you already know? It is a type of issues that is the identical sort of character or character. It is one thing that, to your level, wrestling and steel aren’t regular. It is not the norm. Our fanbases are so passionate. I am a fan of sports activities and films and all varieties of stuff, however in relation to each these industries, the eagerness for a fan to be so immersed in it, I feel is a particular feeling, and you’ll’t evaluate it to anything”
Do you might have a dream band that might play you to the ring at Wrestlemania?
“The mighty Metallica! You understand what I imply? Are you able to think about Metallica enjoying me to the ring? It would be wild!”
It feels bizarre that they’ve by no means performed Wrestlemania!
“Yeah. Hey, perhaps I’ve gotta discuss to the boss man and be like, ‘Hey? What’s up with Metallica?’ That’d be an entire completely different dream state of affairs. I do not even know if I am prepared for that.”
What are you listening to in the intervening time?
“I attempt to combine it up. Rhea [Ripley] has obtained me extra into Immobile In White and Ice 9 Kills, bands that I heard of however simply did not take heed to, however now they’re on each playlist I’ve, which is kinda cool. I like Soilwork’s new stuff rather a lot – a lot, really – it is on repeat at this level. I am an enormous fan of Trivium. I’ve talked about In Flames; they went via a part the place they had been looking for their new sound, and man do they obtained it now. That melodic loss of life, however they found out a option to do it. It is hearth.”
Do you get to go to many reveals lately or is it a case of simply seeing who’s on the town if you’re in a sure territory on the highway?
“That is normally the way it goes. That is occurred to me with Killswitch; I obtained to see them, I hit up Mike [D’Antonio, Killswitch bassist] and I am like, ‘Hey man, I am on the town!’ and he is like, ‘Yeah, come to the present!’ It is fairly cool, they maintain me.”
Nonetheless hitting the mosh pits?
“That one I am unable to do! I am unable to get in there, smack [into] someone after which it is on video, like, ‘This man’s bullying individuals!’ Not an incredible look. However nonetheless, very a lot one in all my favorite issues is stay music, as a lot as I can. Even when it is at a restaurant or a random bar, only a band enjoying, overlaying songs, it is all the time the best factor to me. To this present day, I am unable to recover from how cool it’s.”
WWE Backlash: France airs Saturday 4th Might on WWE Community and TNT Sports activities Field Workplace within the UK and on Peacock within the US.
Tickets for WWE SmackDown & Conflict on the Citadel: Scotland on the OVO Hydro in Glasgow on Friday June 14 and Saturday June 15 can be found subsequent Friday from Ticketmaster.co.uk.
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