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Jake E. Lee Discusses Controversial Red Dragon Cartel Debut Show

12/30/2013
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Classic Rock Revisited recently spoke with legendary former Ozzy Osbourne and Badlands guitarist Jake E. Lee about his brand new group Red Dragon Cartel. During the discussion they talked about the band's debut show where things did not go so well for singer Darren Smith. Here is that part of the interview:

Classic Rock Revisited: We are getting closer to the album release date. This is some hard rocking stuff. This is your comeback. Are you getting apprehensive?

Jake: About seventeen years ago, or so, I was in line in the middle of the night at Jack in the Box—this has nothing to do with anything, but I will tell you anyway. I got robbed at gunpoint and then as I was leaving I got shot at. I am only saying this…he shot like six or seven shots and I was in an SUV…he never hit anything but I could see the flash in the rear view mirror and I could hear the sounds. I wasn't apprehensive then, that is my point. I am one of those guys who doesn't get apprehensive or nervous. That is a longwinded answer to 'if I am apprehensive'…no, I am not.

CRR: Do you realize how f**king lucky you are? Not talking about not being shot, as that is obvious. I am talking about having nerves of steel. I would have sh*t myself.

Jake: Well, yeah, but it doesn't make me more disciplined or anything. It has nothing to do with that. It just doesn't happen. It is not something I have worked on to be that way. You are either born with that or you are not. It doesn't make me better than you, Jeb.

CRR: It does come in handy during gunfights and comebacks. And, I have to say, it comes in handy when the first gig goes down badly!

Jake: I wasn't nervous at the first gig at all and I'm glad I wasn't, because I would have been even more nervous after that one.

CRR: Your singer, Darren Smith was nervous.

Jake: [laughter] Yeah, he was, he was. He was brutalized on the Internet. Nobody is beating him up more than he is himself.

CRR: You remained calm. You had to deal with this issue. Did he look to you for advice after the gig?

Jake: I handled it, I think, as a good band leader would. I told him, "Hey, it is what it is. Everybody f**ks up. I've had some bad shows. The good news is that we will never have a first show that was as under the magnifying glass so much as that one was. There is no way we are going to have a worse show, so it's only going to get better from here on out."

CRR: I heard the second show he performed well. I am usually not the nerd who cruises YouTube and looks for videos, but after that first show, I did. And I did look at clips from the second show.

Jake: There is no way we are not going to get better. We got the bands worse show out of the way. Now we don't have to worry about having a worse show anymore because he already had it with the first one [laughter].

CRR: What did you say after the second show?

Jake: After the second show I said, "You did awesome. You were the best guy up there tonight. This is why you're the singer in this band." He was f**king happy after the second show because he didn't repeat himself. There was a lot of sh*t on the Net about him. A lot of people were blaming me and going, "What in the hell are you thinking?" That is such a stupid thing for people to say, I mean, yeah, that is what I was thinking and that is what I thought I was going to get as a singer. Like that would be true. No, I mean, I've been around a while. He got the job because he is a great singer and he is a good front man. It is going to be great, but it just didn't happen to be great the first gig. Read the full interview here.

Red Dragon Cartel Tour Dates/Tickets

Red Dragon Cartel CDs, DVDs and MP3s

Red Dragon Cartel T-shirts and Posters

Red Dragon Cartel CDs, vinyl and rarities

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