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00:00are there any guests on the album oh we have a huge star-studded cast of characters celine dion
00:06is in there with us trice and came in i can already see the headlines rock metal prog and
00:12everything in between welcome to this episode of talk and rock with meltdown don't forget to follow
00:18the audio only talking rock podcast on all podcast platforms and now it's time for today's
00:24conversation here's meltdown we can talk about medical ailments and stuff all day long but
00:29uh here with uh rob ray from spread eagle uh rob good to see you man good to see you
00:34meltdown thank
00:35you for having us buddy yeah ray how are you i'm good man i'm good i'm healing yeah we're all
00:40going on apparently everybody with that so the brutal divine comes out on a friday you guys are
00:48nice enough to hop on here with me and uh tell me about this record if i'm not mistaken and
00:52correct
00:52me if we're on there's three songs are out right now and farm uh flat earth vultures is street noise
00:57is that correct is that it in reverse order yeah so we put out street noise first then uh
01:03the flat earth vultures with a really cool video we thought yeah and farm with the video that rob's
01:08wife lily directed which is brilliant as well yeah we're rob and i were just talking about how it's
01:12like it's it's just an effort from everybody in the band on this and uh and rob you're doing a
01:17little
01:17acting in flat earth vultures i see yeah he was great right he was great i i did you see
01:23the ankle
01:23bracelet yeah i did how could you the best is the best we ask him to do a walk with
01:29swagger and that's
01:30the walk that we got i don't really know swagger i don't do swagger yeah the academy should be calling
01:40any minute now so if if they do just uh let me know and i'll i'll get off the line
01:44here uh but no
01:46do you guys like in the remake of ben-hur i'm sorry the grammy the grammys road and we said
01:53no we're
01:53waiting for the oscar the academy award thank you that is so funny you guys like you guys like making
02:01those videos i know uh i know ant farm it's like you know you guys weren't involved you're you guys
02:05you said rob's wife but what about that uh the flat earth vultures would you guys like making that
02:09oh that's it's the most fun thing in the world we don't take ourselves serious and we get to have
02:13fun with it you know we don't want to just be four guys mugging making duck lips for the camera
02:18that
02:18looks silly so let's do let's have a little fun with it you know let's let's play the whole clown
02:22thing and and the billionaire uh cowboy and and we just had fun with our director frankie is just
02:28later he's he's what if we did this every second of the day he's like that so he just throws
02:33a
02:33million things at you and and he was he was the panhandler is that right rob yeah thank you
02:39paletta the director was the panhandler yeah and also ray is really good at this kind of stuff
02:44um so you know it just shows because ray's a personality guy you know that's why he became
02:52front man probably when he started you know um so it really showcases what ray a bunch of things that
02:59ray is really good at so it's cool now go ahead the clown go ahead i'm sorry ray
03:05no i just like frank frankie put the makeup on me and stuff and i felt normal dude i was
03:11like oh i
03:12get it i'll take the jokes i get it well let me ask you about this at the end it
03:17says something
03:17about you you thanked uh alex scolding for the guitars what is that all about it's true so did he
03:22just lend you some guitars you guys didn't have any yeah i think frankie does he's really tight with
03:28alex so he wanted to use some particular guitars and he was like you got to try this in video
03:32i'm like
03:32okay it sounds great frankie it sounds great i think it was also a convenience thing because
03:38some of the stuff was frankie was carrying the gear yeah he had alex's guitars so i got you now
03:45rob did did you go to college with uh alex skolnick i don't think so did he go to berkeley
03:50he did he
03:51went to berkeley as well i didn't know if you guys had crossed paths or not no i never met
03:55alex but
03:55i'm i'm a i'm a big fan yeah i know i just saw your boy uh jd a couple months
04:00ago and you know
04:01um another berkeley guy i love jd i went to school with him and we were on the same floor
04:06of the dorms
04:08and what other musicians would we have heard of that you went to school with any
04:13i went to a party berkeley and got really drunk that's a really good question i'm not sure
04:19i'm not sure that's a really good question right well you went to berkeley one night
04:24it's a party that's it i remember the rest it's a party yeah i obviously didn't for to not be
04:30able
04:30to answer that question i was obviously hanging out with the wrong crowd apparently yeah people
04:35who were all partying too much that's who i was hanging out with yeah but you and jake that's why
04:39i'm i'm at where i am they are where they are hey man you've had a good career i had
04:45good fun
04:46and now the new records coming out they're brutal divine we're just talking about this off the air
04:49at uh 36 years uh in the rearview mirror now new record and uh and rob you're saying this is
04:55it man
04:56this this record you guys put all your eggs in this basket yeah we uh what i was saying to
05:01you earlier
05:01is we've we have the backstory with the 36 years we have the current story we made a fantastic record
05:07that we know our our fans will like and so far the reviews are off the charts and we have
05:13the
05:13forward story we have 13 countries booked and so everything a band could do to succeed and to
05:20to set up a rep an album we have done and we're backing up with on our socials so we
05:26feel good
05:27we feel good and did did you start out in 2026 by by like saying we got to do this
05:32this this this
05:33you just start checking off the boxes or it's just just uh kind of just a plan just coming together
05:37i think it's just coming together what do you think right yeah it's just a natural progression
05:41that things melt you know we evolve into this thing and just where we are now and using uh social
05:46media you know we've learned a little bit you know we we've caught on to some things so we're doing
05:51our best to just join the wave and and do it the right way but i mean we're just it's
05:55a culmination
05:55of time we're here now we we got to make things happen it's that simple well i think at the
06:00end of
06:00the day it all revolves around good songs and good music and uh and rob you're saying that this record
06:05is is perhaps maybe even the best you guys have done it's definitely one of the one of our best
06:10records um it's fantastic he's being like see rob robbie bought some great pieces to the table
06:16it's it's a really well written record and we're all real proud of it you know the work we did
06:20together it's it's it's really solid it's very solid and uh rob you you produced this record if
06:25i'm not mistaken correct i did and and the last one also yeah yeah and so this is that just
06:30goes back
06:30to you know you guys are you guys are kind of like homegrown and kind of doing your own thing
06:34as well
06:36yeah yeah we i mean it's it's now at the point where ray used to feel like when he did
06:43an album
06:43he was basically nailed to a cross and now we we have a good time in the studio so i
06:51think uh it's
06:52kind of cool that we're coming up with material this strong and and recording material this strong
06:57and still having a good experience recording it well ray ray why is that is that because of a producer
07:03now just because you guys are doing it yourself feel a little bit more at ease i work much more
07:07at ease i enjoy the studio process now what in the first record you know rob would say and i
07:13i've told
07:13you many times it was not a pleasant experience for me you know it was very i was i thought
07:18i knew
07:18what i was you think you're hot hot stuff until you get onto a in a professional studio and on
07:22a really
07:23good mic and you're very naked so to speak you know and i and i just i had i had
07:28the fire put to me
07:29you know it was a really growing up learning oh there was a lot of yelling i threw a lot
07:33of
07:33headphones i broke a lot of stuff you know it cost us some money but i got through it so
07:38you right now
07:39we're in a good place we know what we've learned how to do this on our own you know without
07:43anyone
07:44having to uh to to ball and chain us or to whip us in any way we can do this
07:49ourselves so we've learned
07:50a lot and i now i i enjoy working with robbie so it was a great time yeah i haven't
07:55said that as hard
07:56as that was for you right we created the album that has is the reason we're still here so as
08:03bad
08:03as as bad as that experience was it's it maybe it was what had to happen at that time yeah
08:09so those
08:09vocals are like you know angry vocals at four or six in the morning yeah wow and uh did did
08:16you think
08:16after that experience maybe maybe this isn't the game for me or did you just want to keep doing another
08:21one well i'm the kind of person you know if you tell me you can't do something i'm gonna go
08:26get
08:26it done so it was like that you know i'm just uh it's it's it's me against the world bro
08:33you know
08:33but now i have robbie in my corner so absolutely you gotta grow up man yeah you guys have been
08:40each other's corners for uh many years so how's uh how's frontiers treating you when it comes to
08:45putting out new music they're they're doing well they they're they're they work real hard youtube real hard
08:51and that's anything is appreciated so um i think it feels like this it's it's hard to say because
08:59it hasn't come out yet but i it i dare to say this is the first time we've had a
09:04label understand us
09:06so fingers crossed arms crossed eyes crossed legs crossed there's good communication going
09:14on with this album with the label so that's that's a big thing for us and we we really appreciate
09:18that
09:18yeah yeah now i haven't heard the record uh rob asked me i haven't gotten a copy of each other
09:22i just heard those uh three songs uh tell me a little bit more about the uh the record is
09:26there
09:26any guests on the album any anything that that deviates from what spread is all about any anything
09:31like that oh we have a huge star-studded cast of characters that's why i'm asking that's why i ask
09:39these questions celine dion is in there with us yeah yeah yeah she's on a few songs and uh
09:45four streisand came in yeah i can already i can already see the headlines but it's seriously uh
09:51just you four guys just pounding away in the studio we're the self-contained machine man we write it
09:57we record it you know what i mean we it it's just us that's it they didn't use any
10:03old skolnick's guitars on this album
10:06but we're all many personalities i'll tell you that yeah rob wants to give one of those a try
10:12ironically i was talking before i was talking some labels um before we decided to do this
10:21record with frontiers and it was all about who can you get to guest oh wow and i right then
10:27because
10:28that's a big thing these days obviously you know for asking that question obviously you know and i was
10:34i knew that they just weren't the right people okay they were so focused on that like who what
10:41name can you get to do a solo what name can you get to come in and do some background
10:45vocals or
10:47trade some verses off with right yeah maybe if this one does well you know we'll get somebody next
10:52time barbara okay barbara and selenia to come in it's gonna be amazing i guarantee you
10:58so i got uh i got street noise of course a gun flower jail rat for uh forbidden local honey
11:04push the limit uh and farm we've heard as well uh scars in our eyes uh inside the shrunken head
11:09then
11:09it ends with uh with make believe or anything you can tell me about any of these songs i know
11:13i just
11:13i just listed off a bunch flat earth vultures we've heard so what else tell me something else about
11:17some of these songs what i will tell you quickly is that i wish we could do this entire album
11:22live
11:22because i think every song on this album translates really well live we'll play as many as we can
11:27but i think you know that's how i feel about it i really do like the ebb and flow of
11:32the record
11:32you know the front half is it's very punky it's got good energy it's got the street energy is that
11:37people like to let us know that we do um robbie can tell you a little more about how things
11:41flow as
11:42far as that goes you know well it is a very punky metallic album um our our fans have been
11:50telling us
11:51yeah after every show you know get back to that nastiness that we started with and it's a it's a
11:58it's a journey because you have to be honest about it and we are being honest about it and we
12:03have
12:03gotten we are getting back to that um we love all our albums though we really do so it's really
12:10authentic he's right authentic and it's very honest but we're sincere band man which what you see is what
12:15you get yeah i've told you guys many times so that the rawness of that first record was really
12:20what attracted it to me and i never heard you talk about before ray at least not to me where
12:25you know
12:25that sometimes maybe a little bit of frustration maybe a little bit of anger was taken out on some
12:29of those songs in the studio there's a lot of youthful exuberance there's a lot of blackberry brandy
12:35and a lot of jack daniels and a lot of other things and you know a young cat who just
12:40thought he
12:40knew it all and found out he didn't know much when he got on the mic so i learned a
12:44lot i had to grow
12:45it fast now when you guys are writing these songs you just said uh ray you want to play all
12:49of them
12:49live do you guys write for the stage or do you guys just write for what feels right or how
12:53does that
12:53work we just write for what feels right we write from the heart we just you know everything's natural
12:58we try not we i think maybe on the second album we did open to the public we tried to
13:03to do too
13:03many things and be all over the place but this is this is a very focused album sorry i agree
13:11but
13:12definitely the this album is more a product of live shows than any of the other albums the first album
13:19we got we were getting ready to do shows and we got signed before our first show and they put
13:24us
13:24right in the studio second we did some touring for the first album but they pulled us off the road
13:30really
13:30early and we went in the studio and spent forever recording open to the public third album subway to
13:35the stars we weren't gigging that much because our our guitar player zeev chalev um had had a kid and
13:42he was he didn't really want to be on the road much this album we do 60 shows a year
13:46for the last four
13:47show four years so that does creep into the writing whether it's conscious or subconscious yeah that is
13:55there it makes a lot of sense yeah also when you're in the studio too long you know things can
14:01get kind
14:02of wacky so it's great to have that live vibe translate to the studio and whether where the
14:08inside whether you're just in the studio locked in and you're you're dealing with crazy you know what
14:12i mean also we went back to our earlier influences and we've been listening to a lot of nevada beach
14:19to for this one okay now you're just screwing with me
14:25what come on really that's funny but i didn't know them no offense to nevada beach i'm sure
14:32they're a great band but i didn't know them the first time you mentioned that 10 years 20 years
14:37later 30 years later all right for those that don't know spread eagle was the second band i ever
14:42interviewed in my life and nevada beach was the first band and i they i guess i stumped you the
14:46first
14:47time so you rob you've been holding that one in your pocket for years savage i'm gonna bring this
14:51out one day and smack down around with it we're waiting for them to reform we're trying to give
14:56them i mean this is a major platform of press for them and come on take the bait and get
15:03some shows
15:04hey 36 years later in this business i've never interviewed them again so uh but anyways getting
15:10back to that uh you guys are going to be doing some record release parties on friday and saturday uh
15:14talk
15:15about doing some of this stuff in your hometowns i guess correct well we're doing the first one is
15:21in new jersey new jersey has adopted us we've adopted new jersey you know when we play the city it's
15:26a lot
15:26of the same crowd that goes back and forth but this particular club dingbats in clifton that's right
15:30yeah yeah the owner's really cool it's just a great vibe there it's very it's it's very raw it's down
15:36and it's a down and dirty venue is awesome the other gig is in newark delaware and robbie
15:42it's like in robbie's backyard so robbie can tell more about that yeah i grew up in delaware
15:47um vinnie moore and i and uh i love playing there all my childhood friends all those delinquents come
15:55out my family it's good it's hilarious they all show up it was wrong yeah so they haven't changed since
16:04we were 11 12 years old they haven't changed all right well this is this is crazy because i like
16:09to
16:09talk about this stuff sometimes so did did you grow up with vinnie more to go to school with him
16:13and all that stuff no i never met vinnie until until the first work we had like a one or
16:19two rehearsals
16:20before the first ufo shows i did okay never met him i heard about him because even his kids he
16:26was
16:26famous he was the famous kid who could play all the van halen songs and you know and people would
16:32talk
16:32about him you know that guy over you know in this neighborhood he knows everything so he was always
16:38famous on whatever level he was on yeah well when you guys uh were gigging around on your first record
16:44he had a song in a tour called meltdown thief thievery thievery you need you need to get some
16:52some uh credit on that yeah that was too long ago i don't think i'm going to but uh hey
16:57uh real fast
16:58how was the monsters of rock cruise i know ray you and i have talked about this uh off the
17:01air but uh
17:02man i uh rob i tried so hard i appreciate you sending me along some uh email information i tried
17:07to get in on it but just couldn't make it happen so uh ray what do you think about the
17:10monster rock
17:11cruise uh you know it's great you know utopia on the water you know it's like you're you're it's it's
17:16fantasy it's disney for it's it's everything it's it's like this heavenly utopian society of
17:23everybody just being really cool and loving to rock and the bands all get along and it's great
17:27food but on this one i got seasick i've never gotten seasick in my life so the second set we
17:34did
17:34first that was great but the second set i was i was gone i was nauseous i was dizzy i
17:39was i was
17:40twirling around and we got it done though but man it's robbie had been on on monsters of rock
17:45cruise several times before and uh before we went on in 2024 i was like man whatever you know the
17:50boat
17:51whatever and then you do it you're like oh i want to do this every day man i can live
17:55on that thing
17:56larry's got a good thing going on oh yeah no no rob so you rob how many times you've been
18:01on there
18:02well that one i've done like about 10 cruises probably that one's probably just 10 that's six
18:10seven times um well probably six times um but uh yeah larry moran thank god bless him he he
18:19he invited us into his family and we're we're so lucky we're you know like you know what what our
18:26situation is we're trying we're this underground band that has a lot of respect that is trying to get
18:32some mainstream attention so we can get it to a bigger level and uh things people like you uh eddie
18:41trunk who we mentioned earlier the cruise m3 festival those are the those are the biggies and
18:47jackie bam bam you know those are the biggies and those people you people that is letting us into
18:55your circle it means so much to us so getting back to the cruise larry moran he he brought us
19:02into his
19:02family and it's just incredible the the cruise is like this to me if you were ever at a festival
19:10outdoor festival maybe the the sun was just going down and it's just the perfect moment you know
19:16not a shitty festival that's raining like a really nice one you're you're there with your girl and
19:21it's just fantastic the band's great sun's going down it's like that for like four that feeling for
19:27like four or five days straight with with all the food you can eat um yeah it's just fantastic uh
19:34and
19:35there's there's a band starting every 20 minutes and it's really sucks that you didn't get on meltdown
19:40because you should be there people you know you people like you in the industry should all be there
19:46um but back to it uh like every 20 minutes there's a band going on so and it's only a
19:54you know at the
19:55most like a thousand feet walk i mean it's they're both huge but it's still it's it's you know it's
20:01a
20:01five ten minute walk at the most so you can see all these great bands you can go see a
20:06few songs
20:07uh the darkness played there i didn't even i wasn't even a fan before i saw them two times
20:14ago they played both times that we played that's both times that spread eagle has played the cruise
20:19the darkness and now i'm like a huge fan because i had no idea what how amazing they are uh
20:26but anyway
20:26just you get to see bands you know that's a perfect example i didn't know anything about
20:33that band other than that kind of funny song you know yeah i think i'll yeah crazy i think i'll
20:37love
20:37yeah what you if you see them you it's it's unbelievable how great they are in every every
20:45box is checked off with that yeah they're great performers yeah then it was glenn hughes two years
20:50ago when we played there's always queens right who are always one of the best bands i didn't get to
20:55see
20:55them this year because i was so busy dangerous toys impressed the hell out of me i i i always
21:01liked
21:01them but i had no idea they were this that great a band i'd never seen them live just non
21:06-stop you
21:07know those 40 something bands yeah meltdown it's like the world's greatest meet and greet it's just
21:12it's cool you know people have access to you the good thing about the thing about this cruise that
21:17got me we had to go on at the same time that the darkness did they were outside so i
21:22saw i told rob
21:22i go man i mean who's going to come see us you know and uh lo and behold we we
21:28had a nice packed
21:28room and it blew my mind so you know everybody goes to see the bands they want to see and
21:33they
21:33have time to see a lot of bands it's great we got to see the loudness that was really special
21:37that was cool so it was just a great time we got to all go to dinner together you know
21:41we brought our
21:41significant others it was cool you know we're all a big family it's great it's great yeah i think two
21:47years ago when you guys went i think i texted you a picture i actually i was driving by the
21:51boats i don't
21:51know if you remember this rob i was yeah i could see the boats from a half a mile away
21:55i was in miami
21:56i got that close yeah so far yeah yeah that was i was that close that close and that i
22:02think about
22:03you were missed it would have been nice to have you on dude i wanted to come and hang out
22:06with you
22:06guys for sure again personalities like you should definitely be on it so i don't know what went wrong
22:13with that well i appreciate that well i'll tell you what i'll cut you guys loose here the record comes
22:18out on friday and like i said and farm flat earth vultures the street noise are out right now uh
22:23the brutal divine by the way uh tell me a little bit about this title before i forget i was
22:26i was
22:27going to ask you guys about that early what's that like entail well it's it's a lyric in one of
22:32the
22:32songs um there's a song called uh jail rat where the character who may or may not be the same
22:43character as
22:44king of the dogs um goes to the top of a building like in in manhattan and is looking down
22:52on the people so that's kind of like it's a lyric from that spot from the song but ray can
22:58maybe say
22:59say some more what it means to him that's good to me there's a there's a beauty in it you
23:03know
23:03there's a beauty in the suffering you know and this album is very truthful and there's a lot of
23:08suffering and truth that go together you know so we try to paint a really nice picture we don't try
23:12to dictate the lyrics for everyone we want people to listen to this stuff and listen to it on you
23:17know
23:17and interpret it to what they want that's that's what i think when you look at a painting it should
23:21be like that you know this painting is about that no people should listen to it and make it and
23:26put
23:26it into their own dna and and there we go you know but i this record has a great feel
23:32it's got
23:33great melodies on it you know it's got great textures the lyric content is ridiculous so we're
23:38really proud of it and then i'll be able to play and i'll be able to get out of this
23:42world
23:43jami is oh yeah yeah then we got it because jami is ridiculous people look at it they'll take notice
23:48of jami now for sure they didn't before they will now and i'll be able to get this on vinyl
23:52yeah yeah
23:54yeah red vinyl oh nice okay yeah because i think uh ray you signed my original copy of the uh
24:01debut
24:01record i don't think i don't think i got robbed to sign that one yet i might have but i
24:04remember you just
24:05got it like a few years ago yeah my wife found it somewhere i don't know where she got it
24:08yeah
24:09she got it for your birthday yeah or something like that yeah that's right well good luck with
24:14everything and uh i appreciate you guys after all these years three and a half decades since i talked
24:18to you guys after nevada beach uh but um good luck with everything in europe and maybe we'll see
24:23you here in detroit uh sooner rather than later we appreciate it we're swinging for the fences just
24:29like you brother we're swinging for the fences man and i can appreciate that we'll uh we'll give
24:32you a little bit of push here and try to get you towards those fences okay thank you check out
24:38talking rock with meltdown on all podcast platforms and wrif.com
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