In a current interview with Nikki Blakk of San Francisco’s 107.7 The Bone, Dying Angel and Kerry King vocalist Mark Osegueda opened up about why Dying Angel needed to pull out of its deliberate fall 2024 tour with W.A.S.P. and the way the choice fueled fan criticism of his dual-band commitments.
Osegueda confirmed that scheduling conflicts with Kerry King‘s solo venture finally compelled Dying Angel to withdraw from the W.A.S.P. tour. Armored Saint was introduced in as a substitute, however Osegueda insists that he had made his availability points clear from the start.
“Since this complete Kerry band occurred, and nonetheless being a significant a part of Dying Angel, there was some backlash from a number of Dying Angel followers, pondering that [my involvement with Kerry] is likely to be the tip of Dying Angel or it is taking away from Dying Angel,” he defined. “After which there was a tour that Dying Angel needed to drop off of, and it was as a result of there have been conflicting dates with Kerry,” Osegueda shared.
“However when that W.A.S.P. tour was provided to Dying Angel, I had put it on the market to the powers that be that, ‘Okay, however I can not assure I will be accessible for the entire tour. Simply know this upfront. So if you happen to take it, I should do reveals with Kerry in the event that they get booked, and it seems like they very nicely could.’ And nonetheless my phrases had been taken and with enthusiasm, they simply heard, to a sure diploma, folks thought, ‘Effectively, let’s do it.’ I mentioned, ‘Okay, let’s, however as soon as once more…’ I imply, each little bit of communication we had, I’d reiterate that.”
“And we nonetheless went for it, throwing warning to the wind, and the wind blew again finally, so to talk. And I mentioned, ‘Hey, what we did not need to occur is occurring. However all of us knew this going upfront. So that is what we are able to do.’ And I truly, being somebody — I do attempt to troubleshoot for Dying Angel on a regular basis as a result of there’s been a few years that Dying Angel has been self-managed by me, Rob [Cavestany, Death Angel guitarist] and Ted [Aguilar, Death Angel guitarist], and we have additionally had administration, however we all the time work with administration very nicely. And so I attempted to troubleshoot, and I mentioned, ‘Look, I may assume of some singers that would fill in,’ and I gave some names and whatnot, simply as an choice. ‘Trigger I did not need them to lose the tour.”
Regardless of his transparency, issues did not go as deliberate: “However the actuality is what the fact was. So finally, what got here again when that was provided to the W.A.S.P. camp and reserving brokers, whatnot, they simply mainly mentioned, ‘Effectively, we do not desire a fill-in for 2 explicit instances,’ ‘trigger I’d have missed two batches of dates, they usually did not need that to be the case… That is just about the stance they took. So, then, from there on, push got here to shove, they usually received Armored Saint, which I feel it is a fantastic invoice. I imply, who’s to say that W.A.S.P. and Dying Angel would not have been a fantastic invoice? Lots of people had been wanting ahead to it.”
Issues took a flip as soon as followers realized Dying Angel‘s absence from the tour was linked to Osegueda‘s dedication to Kerry King‘s venture. That is when criticism towards him intensified.
“Previous to [Death Angel pulling out of the W.A.S.P. tour], there was not a lot negativity about me being in Kerry‘s band, however when that hit, then the floodgates opened,” he continued. “And that is when lots of people began saying destructive issues about me and my character and the way it was affecting the band they love. Unbeknownst to them, consider it or not, I really like that band greater than they do.”
One other supply of frustration for some was that Osegueda did not inform his Dying Angel bandmates about his involvement with Kerry‘s band till the information turned public. He defined that non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) prevented him from sharing particulars earlier than the official announcement in February 2024.
“I could not actually inform the blokes ‘reason behind NDAs [non-disclosure agreements I signed] and whatnot,” he mentioned. “And I do know folks will say, ‘Effectively, that is your blood. These are your bros.’ But it surely’s an NDA. It is a authorized, binding contract that I signed and I respect that. And wording in NDAs are sort of daunting.”
Osegueda admitted as soon as once more, that preserving the key was notably difficult within the tight-knit steel group, the place phrase spreads quick: “The steel group is a hen home,” he remarked. “It truly is. And simply, bap, bap, bap, bap, and phrase simply will get out, and it is identical to fast hearth. And Blabbermouth or not, it simply takes somebody from one crew, one band, they usually discover out and it simply goes round And we needed to exit of our solution to hold this mainly the largest secret there was. As a result of everybody sort of had an thought of who was in [Kerry‘s] band, however for essentially the most half, nobody knew who the singer was. All of them assumed it was Phil [Anselmo]. And it was simply sort of fairly an enormous secret to maintain down. In order that was arduous. And I perceive that. And I defined that to the blokes once I did inform them. And there you go.”
Regardless of the miscommunications and the backlash, Osegueda insisted that he had been upfront with Dying Angel‘s decision-makers about potential scheduling conflicts with Kerry King‘s band: “However once more, as I mentioned, after we took the W.A.S.P. tour, I did inform the powers that be that make the selections for this band, me being certainly one of ’em, what may happen,” he reiterated. “Now say the powers that be throughout the band, or folks that do not have the facility within the band to make the selections, they won’t have identified that I had prefaced this with administration and the blokes who make the enterprise choices.
“And never everybody on this band is a decision-maker with regards to this band. And that is simply the pecking order of how this band works. A few of us have longevity and precedence and a few of us do not. And that can all the time be the case, even when it goes down 20 years from now. Rob and I nonetheless have two extra a long time extra historical past within the band. In order that’s simply the case.”
“And it is a greater method for a band to work. We have tried with the unique Dying Angel lineup to do it as a democracy, and it would not work. It simply would not work. It simply breeds extra chaos and extra rigidity, strife. [Too many cooks in the kitchen] — with every little thing, from writing, to setlists, to every little thing. So, there must be some kind of set construction, at the least with this band. It really works higher that method. And most bands I’ve seen which have longevity, it tends to be the case as nicely.”
Requested which singers had been thought of as potential fill-ins for the tour, Osegueda averted naming names however confirmed that he had advised a number of choices to Dying Angel‘s administration: “Effectively, I do not even know… I should not go down that street, however I advised just a few names, after which I feel administration and folks had been wanting into folks as nicely,” he mentioned. “And it simply wasn’t, I suppose, jelling, particularly with Rob.
“Rob and I had just a few conversations, and he is, like, ‘It is simply not the identical.’ And I am not saying it’s or is not for any band, or it is completely different for any band, however it’s arduous, and I am not saying the significance of a place, however it’s arduous in a number of bands to get a fill-in singer. “It’s. It’s, ‘trigger individuals are used to her or him being the entrance individual and the way they have interaction with the group, and the way they work, and the voice — every little thing. And in order that’s one other factor Rob was actually involved about, which makes absolute sense.”
“And in our private conversations, he was saying, ‘It would be simpler for us to discover a fill-in for me for just a few dates than it’s for you.’ And he mentioned that selflessly, however mainly when it boils all the way down to it, everybody in Dying Angel is an important a part of Dying Angel, however I do know as a fan of various bands, if you happen to went to go see Dying Angel with out me or Rob for that one present, there’s gonna be quite a lot of folks on the market that say, like, ‘Effectively, I received sort of robbed.’ That sucks. And that is simply sort of the character of the beast and the character of the historical past of this band. With all bands, that is simply how it’s. It is like if you happen to went to see Sabbath they usually had a fill-in for Tony Iommi. You would be, like, ‘Oh.’ They usually’re an exception.”
“There have been bands which have changed lead singers. Clearly, AC/DC and Sabbath are the 2 primest examples. And Iron Maiden. There is a handful. But it surely’s not a standard incidence that it really works out so swimmingly and efficiently.”
