'Surviving the Music Industry' with Rex Brown, Frank Bello, Howard Jones + Alex Skolnick 

Rex Brown and Howard Jones? My lucky day.

Alex Skolnick is the man. He is one of the greatest Guitarists of all time.

I see Howard i click

Frank is such a genuinely good guy. Always thought highly of him.

Howard Jones is my ultimate favorite vocalist! I can be sad or in a bad mood, when I hear him sing my problems melt away! His voice is magical and has this invisible hand that reaches down into people and literally lifts up their souls and says " I am here for you". He has a commanding presence whether he tries to or not! HOWARD I LOVE YOU!!! ( I am a Lady by the way not some dude)

We should get Rex and Howard together on some kinda record it'd be amazing!!!!

This is a great panel. Rex and Howard in particular have been part of bands that were the soundtrack of my own life for years, and continue to be. Agree that we need to see Rex and Howard on an album together! All of these guys are legends.

4 cracking bands who've been there and done it over and over again. Just glad they are still alive!!!

From having been in bands for about the last 15 years in and out the hardest thing after getting some demos recorded on your laptop and feeling confident about how good you think they are is 2 things. Number 1 is getting the confidence to play in front of people. Number 2 is actually doing it. They dont know how to call the local bar and ask if they can play they dont think to do that because they dont know to do it. My band went to a local bar and saw a mini stage with some speakers and a PA system so we asked if bands play up there the bar side said yah but nobody ever does so we went home, packed our shit up drums and all and hauled ass down there. Bought each of us a couple beers for some liquid courage and had fun. Great times man. We never did anything special but it was a great time man.

Cool to see Rex,one of my favorite albums of 2017 - Smoke On This

I love these guys, they all started with a dream and passion for music, from playing to a handful of people to where they are now. Now that's a life lived to its fullest. If you love your job you'll never work a day in your life.

Rex brown is a very underrated bassist.... his weaving and mixing with dimebag is akin to slash and izzy... just perfect.

Howard is da man, My Curse is literally my favorite song of all time and Howard is one of the singers that made me want to play music myself.

Thank you Loudwire! Also Alex Skolnick / One of the greatest of all time

I didn’t pay to be entertained by my phone at a show that bill comes every month,these bands come around every blue moon...

Howard is an A+ dude. Mad respect to that man always.

All these dudes are awesome. Really enjoy getting the chance to listen to them.

This is GREAT!! Thanks for sharing!

Awesome video. There should be more like this, different perspectives and experiences.

Great group of guys right here. Keep rockin this world fellas. It's very much appreciated.

SO much wisdom in this video! Thank you!

Pantera saved metal......🤘🤘🤘🤘

I still buy cds so I'm loyal to the bands they get paid i don't stream or download i like to have the album in my hands read the notes look at the artwork 💯

Brian is a very musical speaker, he sounds like he’s rapping at times.

pantera ruled the 90's because of the raw almost punk attitude and anti music industry sort of "we dont give a fuck, we just tear shit up"... all the metal bands had forgotten that in the 90's.. even metallica. So thats why Pantera ruled. Fucking love that band.. i get shit from it from so many friends and younger people who think pantera fans are fat construction work dudes out in the country.

I don't know if those guys will see this but I salute them all

Howard Jones!!! Can't wait for his new project's third album!!! What a brother!

Frankie Bello is so badass

Great interview

great discussion

I am almost 50 so by saying that, in the 80’s I could go to 10 or more places around Jersey and philly where you could go see metal bands live. Even if it was a dance club all week. Then Sunday night we would see King Diamond etc. anyway, we need places bands can play and grind it out.

I love how Rex and Frank seem like genuine friends lol

One of my favorite quotes on that topic, Tom Arraya. "You start the thing because you wanna do it. All of a sudden you do the thing, because you have to do it."

Great group to interview

Legends right here

I didn't want this to end.

I loved Rex’s book.

Now i wanna see all these guys in a super group together

Plenty of Thin Lizzy shout outs on stage… the sign of truly great taste in music.

This is a good discussion and I hope that more people in the industry would talk about how to survive or even make it in the music industry. For local talent and music bands to even have a shot these days it is most certainly a lot harder than the 80’s. Of course, not implying it was easy for them back then. But the business aspect is tougher. For instance, pay to play now is the only way a local band gets a shot of playing good venues and open for National or International well known acts. Local clubs hardly promote events and the local bands not only have to sell tickets that have to be great at promoting. Is that a bad thing? Not all of it, but it adds so much more complexity. Let’s not forget the fact that many promoters look for ticket sales and not if the band can deliver a great show, which also contributes to lower attendance and damaging the perception of what people think of local bands. The truth is, there are so many talented musicians and bands out there and there is no support system or infrastructure left to give them a legitimate shot. The media has done us a disservice with these fabricated music stars and icons that can’t write a good song to save their lives and depend on image fabrication to sell records. I love Metal and believe that it’s a genre that does not get the support of main stream. Long live Heavy Metal!

What I find hard is trying my damnedest to find musicians that want to be in a country music band that I'm trying to create. Unfortunately no one has the drive nor are they passionate about wanting to accomplish something with me! My second problem is being able to find a reputable recording studio to help me Record the many songs that I've written. What I'm trying to create is a brand new country music band. The many songs that I've written I try to pattern off of the late 80's early 90's country music, something most people dearly miss!

Well, Pantera played for 10 years in every shit hole, before they saw any money. The Scorpions played for 2o years in every shit hole to see any money. The Ramones played for 3o years never seeing any money. Motörhead played for 4o years never seeing any money. Michael Schenker and Jon Uli Roth are doing it for 5o years now without seeing any money. Dave Lombardo quit Slayer, because he couldn`t make a living in that band etc. etc. So it`s not unpossible, but it`s a long way to the top if you wanna Rock`n"Roll...

R.i.p goes out to the queen, god rest her soul

Rex! my respect to u brother

Howard laughing about the multiple broken ribs was funny. I was right against the stage at an Eyehategod show where this cat did a front flip off of it and busted his head on the floor.

Let's give Slagel props. We all owe him more of a debt than we might know.

How come you didn't put this on the podcast? Loved this. Really interesting.

Kerry King said he listens to his own records. Back in the day he listed Slayer albums as his favorite albums and he made a good point about it by saying "You have to like your own music." or something like that. Not exact quote. Even back in the day a lot of bands would say they were writing the music that they wanted to hear.

I love Frankie. So honest. 3 minutes in and "So, lemme tell ya about the time I shat myself onstage..."

Hell yeah

Alex Skolnick is so cool

Where's Blasko? Would love to hear some of his Ozzy and Zombie stories. Also, why isn't Howard's name or credentials up on the screen? Great interview

Rex brown pantera

dude Howard Jones is looking amazing. happy for him

So many fuckin legends!

Can not hear the questions the audience were asking....would have been nice to have to have some sort of captions for them.

8:00 - So true. I actually realized that a long time ago. "Man, they blew up over night!" No. That never happens. You never see all the touring and all that for YEARS before they "blew up". Pantera is a great example of this.

Wish this was 2-3 hours long.

Alex is awesome!!

Frank talking about pooping his pants and Howard is trying not to lose it. Franks still the man.

ima go play my guitar right about now

Awesome!!!!! Brian Slagel: PUT ON PANTssss

Awesome interview. If it wasnt for Rex, PanterA would not have been the same. All 4 members played an equal role to create perfect chemistry that is PanterA.

Love the Kiss shirt

Geoff Tate also did want he wanted to do, to fulfill his visions. It left Queensryche fans no choice but to leave the Queensryche camp. Pantera, on the other hand, always gave the fans what we wanted and realized that the fans are who buy the CD'S and pay to see the live shows. I guess after you've achieved all of the success and money, you can do what you like and it really doesn't matter what the fans enjoy. I am old school and I actually do still buy the CD'S and pay the see the band's I enjoy. Best wishes. Rex, you are one of the best bassists on the planet. I never sold out to any trend, like grunge. I will always like what I like and I stick to my roots.

Howard Jones one of the greats!

Yall should make a Podcast with Musicans

Did anyone else realize that they don't have Howard on the back projector screen?

What a great show and line up.it looks like Howard has shed some weight too.

Would have been cool if the first question directed at Rex (When you get to the down periods of time, how is it that you're able to kinda regroup and get excited about music or art again?) was answered by him saying...Do you mean down periods as in low periods or Down periods as in the Down band periods?

The look on Howard's around 1:30-4:00

Testament were still hard as fuck in the 90s as well. I mean. It wasn't only Pantera. Overkill dropped 6 records during that period....

I

Work work work

These 4 should make some music together

MegaDave kept heavy metal alive in the 90's.

I use my phone to film concerts for my personal collections

The last vestiges of classic artists. In 10 to 20 years they won't be anyone alive to have a panel like this of people who experienced financial success making music. At least heavy music.

New bands are easy to find, just search RU-vid. The real problem is finding bands that are good.

Great discussion but you can barely hear the questions.

What Behemoth song has the anthrax riff? I'm curious now

holy shutter roll

My first concert was seeing Testament play in Isla Vista back in 92. I sat through the first two opening bands and then the lights went out and everyone rushed the stage. The lights never came back on. The venue lost power. After an hour, Chuck took the stage saying they would come back. Fans were screaming: "Testament unplugged!" They didn't come back.

Why aren’t all the seats filled? That’s crazy.

The 2nd

Man, Rex lookin like Willie Nelson more & more these days \m/\m/

They talk about "pay to play" ruining things, but there is zero mention about tour buy-ons.

All young musicians want now is to have a YT Channel and do a note for note guitar solo cover and get paid through ad's....That's the truth of it.

Howard made this fun.

when Rex said he doesn't think they had a tour bus until the 3rd record -- is he talking about those 80's albums ? I am certain they had a tour bus on the VULGAR tour and probably on COWBOYS too. Why is Howard Jones there? It's like a bunch of 80's veterans and one new guy

Howard Jones ❤ New Song, What is love, Hide and Seek….

Why no Howard pic?

21:10 Clever idea.

The third

wanna know what a troll is? Alex explains it here perfectly 30:06

I didn't know "Heisenberg" was going to be the host! Lol

This Metal Blade dude speaks like all the other record execs. No clearly answer…..”we’d like to but it’s very difficult!”

Lol I think it's funny Howard Jones name isn't displayed on the wall.. but the interview name is along with his title that he survived the music industry... Not Howard...

When they talk about " music critics " I have to laugh . After the Kiss Alive 2 show this so-called music critic hammered the opening band and called them a no talent , three cord punk band....this was AC/DC !!!!!!! I reread this column ever so often and LAUGH MY ASS OFF ! ( some hack from the Louisville Times in the mid seventies...loser ) .

Howard Finkel