Michael Sweet (Stryper)

Michael Sweet is a singer and guitarist, most known for fronting the Christian metal band Stryper. He has also worked on projects with George Lynch (Sweet/Lynch), Tracii Guns (Sunbomb) and fronted Boston from 2007-2011.  In this episode we discuss new music and live shows from Stryper, an update on Michael’s eye surgery, Metallica being cancelled, the end of times and bourbon! This was a lot of fun! 

00:00 - Intro
00:37 - Eye Surgery & Health Update 
03:50 - "See No Evil, Hear No Evil"
05:05 - "Rise to the Call" & Videos 
06:04 - Playing Guitar 
07:25 - New Album, Songs & Videos 
09:03 - Apocalypse & End Times 
13:05 - Cancel Culture & Metallica 
15:20 - No Gender & Evil Consuming Society 
16:46 - Making Mistakes & Apologizing 
17:30 - Cancelling Stryper & Openness of Views 
19:20 - Drinking Alcohol, Christianity & Party Phase 
25:45 - Getting Along with People with Other Views 
27:10 - Richard Christy & Other Famous Fans 
28:35 - Stryper Tour, Album, Documentary & Battle Van 
30:20 - Ark of CapeCod 
30:55 - Outro

Stryper website:
http://www.stryper.com

Arc of Cape Cod charity website:
https://www.plymouthcapearc.org/our-mission

Chuck Shute website:
http://chuckshute.com

Transcript

Chuck Shute: 0:00

Coming up on the show we've got singer guitarist Michael Sweet. He is best known for fronting the band striper, but he's also done really cool projects with George lens, Lynch, Tracy guns and Joel Hoekstra and today we'll get an update on new music and touring with striper. Michael's health update in his eyes stuff. His thoughts on Metallica being canceled and more he's an open book. This is a great interview. Very entertaining. Stay right there Okay, you ready to do this? Yeah,

Michael Sweet: 0:38

pardon my appearance, man. I literally just stepped out of the shower. And I surgery my eyes nasty still. So I'm wearing sunglasses and a Michael Sweet beanie. And here I am. Oh, yeah,

Chuck Shute: 0:49

I was gonna ask you about the eye. How's it I know, you had the detached retina like, it sounds kind of scary.

Michael Sweet: 0:54

It is scary. It doesn't seem like a big deal. But it is and my retina detached in November of last year. And I had surgery that was pretty tough. I had to do face down for a couple of weeks. Really be careful. And then not long after surgery in the face down, it really detached. So I had to have a secondary surgery. And that was even more brutal. Had to do the same thing all over again, heal that made the album and they had to put oil in my eye for six months. I just had that removed surgically. And they put a new lens in my eye is not not liking any of this at all.

Chuck Shute: 1:34

What causes a detached retina? I mean, that's

Michael Sweet: 1:37

well, you know, they keep telling me it's hereditary. Oh, but I can't find anybody in my family that's had this issue.

Chuck Shute: 1:45

Yeah, it's not an injury or something that would something like you didn't fall or get hit or I

Michael Sweet: 1:51

did it. I'm one of those guys. I'm the best case scenario for this because they say it's hereditary. But I also had some trauma to my head when I was a child. And it did cause a partially detached retina. So yeah. In theory that absolutely played a big part in it. And then the other thing they say is my retinas are really thin, which is abnormal and I'm nearsighted, which nearsighted people are more prone to retinal detachment.

Chuck Shute: 2:20

Okay, what's amazing, they can, like basically, they can fix it, though, right? I mean, it's it's healing.

Michael Sweet: 2:26

It's healing. It is. I mean, the big question is going to be in time, how will my vision be? Right now? It's pretty bad. You know, everything is kind of blurry. And, and not only blurry, but if I look at a straight line, it's it's crooked. Yeah, everything's really. It just isn't right. And when I try to look through both eyes, I'll get a headache after an hour or so I, I wear a patch a lot still. And I think in time, it's going to be pretty good.

Unknown: 2:56

I do. So and it's just the one eye though, right? The other ones fine. Well,

Michael Sweet: 3:01

no, the other I, when I went and had surgery on this, they check this out, and it had to tears. This had to retinal tears. And the retina didn't detach, what they had to do is laser surgery on that. And they blasted each tear around the tear to create scar tissue. So it would make it stronger and it wouldn't tear anymore. Like, you know,

Chuck Shute: 3:28

interesting. Well, hopefully it's all works out. I mean, it sounds like they're working on it. It's amazing what they can do with technology and medical science.

Michael Sweet: 3:36

Oh my gosh, it's unbelievable. I keep telling the doctor, I just wish you guys were advanced. And if we had bionic eyes, I just say put a new line here.

Chuck Shute: 3:46

Yeah, that'd be amazing. Well, so to the music. I mean, that's it. No, no pun intended. But the new singles called See no evil, hear no evil. And it's a great heavy riff with a sing along chorus. I love this.

Michael Sweet: 3:59

Well, good. I'm glad you like it, man. It harkens back obviously to bands that we grew up on like Black Sabbath. And, you know, Sabbath is a big influence of ours and has a similar kind of groove. We love those kinds of grooves lately. And we had a song called the Valley that was similar. And yeah, it's really interesting in in the Pawnee in that lyric, pun intended, was the fact that I was lost his hearing in one year, and I've lost my vision. So I kind of wrote the lyrics with a smile on my face kind of poking fun at that to a degree, you know,

Unknown: 4:39

yeah. So that wasn't that's funny.

Michael Sweet: 4:42

It wasn't I mean, he got to, you got to kind of laugh at things and smile through life, because we all get curveballs and have our own issues. And you can either let them, you know, control you or you can control them or it and you know, just kind of say hey, Whatever. At least we're still alive. And it could always be worse.

Chuck Shute: 5:04

Definitely, it can always be worse. And then the other song often rise to the call. There's some crazy guitar solos. And is that that's you and AWS trading off.

Michael Sweet: 5:14

Its AWS and AI trading off. Yeah. And, you know, that's how a lot of the album is AWS and I traded that for getting ready to go to Nashville next week and shoot two videos with their music videos. So when it'd be really nice as people will be able to see who does what. Oh, yeah. And again, transgressor is a song that we trade off on. I think oz starts it and then I finish it. And then the other videos, I'm playing the guitar solo on and then ours comes in, in the end with the harmony, but it's always interesting, that whole guitar thing because people, people look at me as a singer. And I think sometimes they forget that I play guitar, which is, you know, just the way it is. That's fine. But I like to remind them that I play from time to time.

Chuck Shute: 6:03

Yeah, well, you're because you're in that band iconic, right? And you just play guitar. You don't sing in that when Nathan James is a singer.

Michael Sweet: 6:09

I just play guitar. I mean, a Joel is covering a lot of the solos on that album, rightfully, rightfully so. But yeah, I, I just play guitar. I'm doing two duets with Nathan. And there's other projects that I've done that I just play guitar on. And, you know, it's it's, that excites me more than singing, playing guitar. I've been playing since I was five. And, you know, we used to be a trio way back when we were a band called rocks regime. And we retrieved my brother, myself and Eric Johnson on bass. And I don't know that a lot of people know that or really need to know that. Not to take anything away from us by no means. But you know, for whatever reason, I'm not sure. It's really interesting. I have people come up to me all the time. And I've gotten to the point where I literally laugh, because it's funny. It's really funny. And they come up to me after the show. And they say, you know, I never know you played guitar. And I'm like, sometimes I'll say to them in a bit of a joking snarky way, I'll say that, then you must not know who we are. If you go back and watch all the old videos and playing guitar and all the videos, so it's just so interesting to me. It's funny.

Unknown: 7:20

Yeah. So the new album is coming out. It's coming out this fall, do we have a date on that?

Michael Sweet: 7:26

It is coming out in October don't have an exact specific. But it's I want to say it's mid mid to late October. Prior to that, we have a couple more songs coming out. We have a music video coming out in August, and another music video coming out September and then the album and another released a song coming out with the album.

Unknown: 7:51

So what is the album called? Do you have a title? Or can you say it?

Michael Sweet: 7:54

I do? And I can say it? Yeah, it's out there kind of already. It's called the final battle.

Unknown: 8:00

Okay. And what is really good for

Michael Sweet: 8:03

Wait, you see the artwork is killer. What is

Unknown: 8:06

what is final battle about?

Michael Sweet: 8:08

Well, I have people asking that question already wondering if it's our final album. And it's interesting, because that was in the back corners of my mind. We were thinking about the title that was Is this our final album? Could this be our final album? Well, you never know. And, you know, life life changes so drastically and radically, that you wake up and you say, Well, okay, I didn't see this cupboard, you know, obviously with my eyes and causes brain surgery and, and whatnot. And, you know, we're not getting any younger. So I don't think it'll be our last out but you never know. But really, the the story behind the title and the artwork is the battle of Armageddon, which is ultimately the final battle, you know, biblically speaking, and that's really what we're referring to, for the most part.

Chuck Shute: 9:03

Do you think that is like coming soon, because I have some friends that feel like we're in those times. We're close to those times now.

Michael Sweet: 9:12

Well, you know, I tell you, man, if you say that in today's world, boy, you are labeled an instant loan. You're alone, you're crazy, and you need to be committed and you're out of your mind. But yet at the same time, when you go through the Bible, and you would if you were to really dive deep into the Bible and have someone explain the theory of it to you, and the stories that are behind the stories, so someone really smart who isn't me they could explain to you stuff that would make you your chin hit the floor. And and all the stuff that is the Bible predicted that has already taken place and really the only thing left is God's returned. And what follows after that one of those things be the battle of Armageddon. So people can laugh and sneer and think, you know, Christians are crazy, and that's fine. I believe in the Bible. I believe what it says. And I think those times are coming. I think we're living in those times. Absolutely. For sure. We live in a very interesting world. And I think everyone could at least agree on that. That times have changed dramatically over the past two years.

Chuck Shute: 10:33

Definitely. No, it's a weird, it's weird times for sure. So you think it's like, really? We're like on the cusp of this?

Michael Sweet: 10:40

Yeah, I do. You know, those people out there who watch this moment, when I say, Yeah, who roll their eyes and think I'm crazy. That's fine. You guys can go ahead and keep thinking people like myself are crazy. But you know, it's the only thing I can say to that is when that day comes. And it's reality. Obviously, everyone will know that those who believed weren't crazy. And and then at that point, it'll be too late for the people who thought those people were crazy.

Chuck Shute: 11:13

Right? Well, I think the people that get labeled crazy are the ones that say like, the world is going to end and then they say, a specific date. And then the world doesn't end. And then they're like, Oh, they're crazy.

Michael Sweet: 11:23

Well, yeah. And the Bible is very clear about that, too. No man will know the hour, no man knows the hour, you can't sit. Okay, according to this time, like, yeah, he's coming on this day. And that's what people try to do. You can't I think we're definitely living in the end times. But that could be short, you know, that could be relatively soon in the very near future, or that could be in the relatively distant future. I don't think it's going to be hundreds of 1000s of years from now. But I think that it's coming and you know, our time is marked. And look, we may get hit by a giant comet before God comes back. Who knows, but I think sometimes we think we're invincible. You know, nothing can hurt us. And obviously COVID kind of taught us a lesson on that didn't,

Chuck Shute: 12:16

ya know for sure on if you look at history, it was like the Romans were on top and the Roman civilization was thriving. And then all of a sudden, everything kind of crashed. And it's there's a lot of similarities to the if you look at the end of Roman times to the end of like, what's happening right now, there's a lot of very similar things happening.

Michael Sweet: 12:34

No question, no question about it. And you know, we are not invincible, and we anything can happen at any given time. Unexpectedly, that leaves us in awe saying, Oh, my gosh, I had no idea I never even imagined that ever happening. And it can and will happen. It's just a matter of time.

Chuck Shute: 12:59

Yeah, it does seem weird times have changed. I mean, the biggest thing that to me is somebody and I grew up in the 80s. And you're from you grew up in the way you grew up a little before, but you know, your band was big in the 80s. And it was like and I was reading about you guys how Jimmy Swaggart kind of basically tried to cancel you and that was kind of a big thing in the 80s was all this like canceled culture. It was a lot of from Christians, right. There was a lot of Christians trying to cancel heavy metal. And that seems to be kind of laid off now. Now it's the left is trying to cancel everybody to hear the latest with a Metallica they're trying to cancel Metallica for being racist and inappropriate jokes towards Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley and all these things like a big list of things.

Michael Sweet: 13:41

I think it's the most frickin ludicrous thing I've ever heard in my life. I can't stand it. And what's really pathetic about it is it's coming from schooled. So called smart people, right? The smartest people we have to offer who are coming up with these crazy ideas. We were just watching the show Stranger Things. Yeah. And they had a bottle my wife pointed out there had a bottle of syrup pancake syrup. And instead of Mrs. butters worth it said butter Butterworth or butters where they cheat they took the Mrs. Mrs. And my wife pointed out I didn't even pick up on her. I'm just thinking, This is insanity. It's just so stupid. So are we gonna live in a world in the near future where you can't use the terms Mr. And Mrs. I think so.

Chuck Shute: 14:39

It's getting it's getting weird. Yeah. And I don't understand the intent behind it seems like a very bizarre intent. It's funny because like, you know, my buddy's a Christian he always talks about Christians are gonna be the first people to be persecuted and he's gonna he always jokes, he's gonna end up in the Gulag. That's what he says Like.

Michael Sweet: 14:57

Bad is you have to joke about Because the laughters would get you through it. Yeah. But I'm telling you, as crazy as it sounds, that's where we're headed. And I think the intent and the purpose is to basically, you know, our children are being taught this in schools, you know, that there's no gender. You know, we're moving into that phase, I went somewhere overseas and went into a non gender restroom. And it was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced in my life. I didn't like it. I don't think most people do you like it. You know, I like to go in and pee privately. And I think most men do, and most women do. But it's getting to a point where it's just, I don't know how else to put it. There's, there's one word that always pops into my mind. Always. And it's the one word that I go to. And that word is evil. It's literally like evil consuming our society. Because it's all based on. It's not. It's not holy, you know, to try to indoctrinate and change this and change that. And it's just, it's just so bizarre to me. I don't understand. But you know, look, I my opinion doesn't matter. It really doesn't. I'm a small voice in in a very large sea. And but boy, it's It's just strange. I think more people need to speak up and be loud. Or we're going to find ourselves in 10 years in a really messed up world. And we're, we're there already.

Chuck Shute: 16:45

Yeah, it does seem like people are scared because they don't want to get canceled. So then nobody says anything, when some of the canceling is kind of BS, or they're digging up. So I think it's weird when people dig stuff up from 30 years ago, and say, look at this person said something that's inappropriate now, but maybe at the time it wasn't, or maybe they've changed in 30 years. And it's hard.

Michael Sweet: 17:07

It's ridiculous. And that's the thing. We all make mistakes. I've said things that I've regretted, and I've apologized for. We all have we all do. We all will. And it's just stupid. If you sincerely apologize and turn for that change to that. I applaud that. But man, it's just so crazy. And it's it's sad to see, and it seems to be getting worse and worse and worse and worse. And we're being it's already been canceled. So I don't care man. We were canceled years ago. ENL. And people because of what we stand for and who we stand for. They don't want to accept us and they try to cancel us every day, every minute, every hour. I'm used to it. That's part of the reason why I don't care what I say. I'm an open book, man. I speak my heart. I voted for Trump. Yeah, I voted for Trump. Would I again? Sure. I would. Because the reason why is because I'm tired of, you know, that what we're getting now the typical politicians that just continue to, to steal and lie. And you know, I'd rather have someone that tweets mean tweets, and at least tries to change the system versus someone that tweets, nice tweets and doesn't change the system at all, or makes it worse. So you know, I'm open about who I am. It doesn't make me a shameful person or a bad person. You know, I'm very open about it. And if that means I lose fans in I make people enemies. I guess that's just the way it goes. But at least I can go to my grave at the end of my days knowing that I was real. And I wasn't artificial, you know, scared, you know,

Chuck Shute: 18:56

right. Well, I think that's part of your brand, too, is the Christian metal. I mean, so it's gonna be a lot of people that probably share a lot of your same beliefs.

Michael Sweet: 19:04

I don't know. I mean, I know a lot of Christians that didn't vote for Trump. I know a lot of Christians that voted for for President Biden. I mean, everyone's different. But I do think that a lot of Christians share similar beliefs and some of my beliefs, but definitely not all of them. I've always talked about how I like bourbon, you know, and all those Christians get up in arms when I say that.

Chuck Shute: 19:26

Yeah. So what is the rule with that? Like, you just you can't like you don't want to get drunk if you're if you're, if you're living a Christian lifestyle, but you can still have my grandpa drank every day and he was Catholic.

Michael Sweet: 19:36

Yeah, I mean, I look, I enjoy bourbon. And it I, of course, never want to put myself in a position where I'm so drawn to that I'm irresponsible and doing bad things. But I enjoy bourbon. I like to taste them and I like going out and trying different bourbons and it's fun to me, I enjoy it. It doesn't control me. So therefore I have no problem with that. So some another Christian that comes in and says, I should have a problem with that I basically tell them to, you know, go to somewhere else to someone else in in and preach to them because it's not going to work on me. I don't have an issue with it. Now, if you were a recovering alcoholic, and, you know, you have a bourbon and it causes you to fall back into that, I get that. I totally get that. But you know, it's just a lot of Christians don't understand Michael Sweet because I'm, I just talk about that stuff freely. And they're like, what? It's hard for them to understand. That's

Chuck Shute: 20:35

yeah, you guys did kind of go through a party phase in the 80s. After that, was it like was it was the against the law album? That was kind of your party phase. And you kind of grew out of it, though, right?

Michael Sweet: 20:46

Yeah, we had a party phase before we dedicated our lives. So back from like, I became a Christian when I was 12, almost 13. I was born in 63. So do the math on that 75 pictures from 7576, all the way up to 83. I was doing the world all the worldly stuff, really lots of drink and smoking and, you know, obsessive amounts, and doing the whole Hollywood club scene and then I've dedicated my life. And, and then during against the law period, from 1983 to 1990, is when we really walked on the straight and narrow and then 90 to 91 is when we started drinking again and going through our party phase again. And our marriages were suffering because of a lot of things were going on that just weren't godly, and certainly were hypocritical, according to everything we were singing about, and saying on stage. So yeah, it was a time that I just felt like I needed to change my life. Or I was gonna get sucked into the black hole than I did. I left the band. That's how I changed my life. It had to be that drastic, I had to leave I had to get out.

Chuck Shute: 21:59

And then how did you get sober or not? Maybe not necessarily sober, but you cut it down to where you can manage having a bourbon every now and then. Yeah, yeah.

Michael Sweet: 22:09

And I wouldn't even say I was never an alcoholic, but ever. I was a weekend drinker. You know, during those days, we get together and have parties and I drink them. But then during the week, I wouldn't have a sip of alcohol. I've never had an issue with alcohol never been an addictive personality, in that sense was smoking with drinking anything like that. But I now just, you know, I, I can go buy a bottle of bourbon, or two really expensive high end bottles of bourbon. And they'll still be sitting in my in my cabinet, my, my cupboard. You know, a year later, I'll still have a little left. So I just, it's just a matter of sipping, you know, have put some in a cup and have some at night to relax or whatever. And it's not even every night. You know, it's like, I haven't had a bourbon and maybe it's been a long time for me. It's been like three nights.

Chuck Shute: 23:06

Okay, what's your favorite bourbon? Is there one that's your go to

Michael Sweet: 23:09

oh man, I just I enjoy the the experience of trying different bourbons. There's a few different ones that I really enjoy. Ah, angels envy is one of them. For sure. There's a Jeffersons that I love. Particular Jeff and there's one called Victor's certain batch that I love. But I also love the experience of like, when we travel, we go to the towns and they know I like bourbon. They're like, Hey, we got your really nice bottle of bourbon. I'm like, Oh, wow. And we'll have a little bit that, you know, the night after the show it by the pool, the back of the hotel, myself and the promoter and a few band members. And I'm like, wow, that can really taste the you know, so it's that that's the experience. Yeah. social side of it. And it's just so much it's enjoyable for me, you know? Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 24:01

How does that work when you? Because I would think that's always the most interesting thing about me too, with bands, and touring, especially with other bands, you know, some different levels of drinking and some go really hard and then some don't a lot of people are dead, sober. And also just different personalities. How do you get along with different personalities on tour and in bands?

Michael Sweet: 24:21

Well, the ones that are dead sober, people that I know, friends in bands were literally alcoholics. Or for you every time I saw him, they were falling on their face drunk. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, yeah, alcoholics, and they're sober now and God bless them. That's fantastic. I've never ever ever in my life been like that, ever. And that's not to say that, you know, I couldn't be. I'm just, I'm just saying I've never been like that. So the way I do it is, you know, I don't drink before show Don't ever drink before a show because obviously when I'm doing a show without these Yeah, sorry. Okay. Okay, I'll have to be just a little late. I'll be just, but anyway, I never drink before show. It's always after, when I'm relaxing. And it's not even always after, you know, just some time. Yeah. But I just, you know, I try to be responsible. It's all about being responsible and observing the situation. And if there's, if I'm in a room of guys that are former alcoholics, you know, I'm not gonna say, Hey, you guys want to hurt you know any? Yeah, I love bourbon you want? Yeah, it's I just, I'd be cautious and careful. And but it's still it's something that I enjoy. And I don't have a problem with because it doesn't control me.

Chuck Shute: 25:43

Sure, sure. No, yeah. It's just it's always assumed the personalities like and also like, because you are in that band with Tracy guns. And I thought that was an interesting pair. I love both your musical I love your singing. I love his guitar. But I'm thinking personnel. I mean, you're voting you're like, uh, you know, you're pro Trump. He's very anti Trump. Does that something you guys just don't even talk about it when you're making music together? Or?

Michael Sweet: 26:05

Well, I mean, Tracy and I haven't really been together in the same room, in a sense in terms of recording or even touring, really. We've been there a few times and hung out a few times. He came in jam with striper. And you know, we've shared some moments, but we haven't really hung out a lot. So we haven't gotten there yet. We when we get there, I'm sure it will be fine. Because I respect Tracy I think and hope he respects me. We're friends. You know, and I think people can prove that. Even if you have differences, politically, religiously, spiritually, all of that stuff. You can still be best friends. You know, I think I agree. I'm good friends with George Lynch. I'm good friends with Todd Latour. They're both atheists. They don't believe in God. And I do. So you know, we're able to make music together and laugh together and have great moments in text each other and call each other. And you know what I mean? It doesn't mean you friends.

Chuck Shute: 27:06

No, I heard and this is another one that I think was so fascinating. Richard Christie, the drummer of the metal band death is and he's a writer on Howard Stern Show is a huge fan of you and striper.

Michael Sweet: 27:18

Yeah, Richard sweet guy loved him so much. And he used to come and see us when he was a kid as well, it would bring him to see us perform striper. Way back in the day, I think in God, we trust tour. So I love tour as well. And it's just really fascinating to me to see and meet all these guys that have, you know, played such a part and been a part of our history from their childhoods, who are now in other bands. And we're friends now. And it just blows my mind. And it shows you the power of music and the power of the message. And I do think the music and the message has, you know, somehow shot shine a light on their lives and in their hearts because they've shared that with me. Really cool. It's inspired them so it's really cool.

Chuck Shute: 28:08

Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah. Isn't the guy from corn, the guitars from corn also a Christian? Are you friends with him at all? Brian?

Michael Sweet: 28:15

I'm not really friends with him. I mean, I've met him a few times. Not not friends enough to text or call or anything like that, but I met him a few times.

Chuck Shute: 28:27

Yeah, that's really cool. Well, I know you gotta get going. Um, so we got the new album coming out in October, you got a tour. I think that's kicking off August 20. Or I see tour dates on the website,

Michael Sweet: 28:37

we got a tour kicking off. This is a second round ground tour. And we're going to do I believe, I want to say 20, dates, 21 dates. And we've got a few dates coming up next week, once there's on the mountain solo and striper. And then we've got to run in October, where we're going to do a few South American dates. And then we got to Mexico Ryan. We've got so much going on. And then the new album comes out October and then next year, I'm sure we're gonna tour a lot for that.

Chuck Shute: 29:05

Yeah. And is that I saw something about a documentary from Kickstarter. Is that out now? or is that coming up?

Michael Sweet: 29:11

That's coming out. We still have to finish it got a lot of work to do on it. But that'll be coming out. If I had to say safely. It would not even be next year, but it would it would get finished next year and it would come out in 2024. That's probably pretty safe to say.

Chuck Shute: 29:27

Okay, and then also, this is a cool, there's like this. What is it like a battle van? This toy thing. This looks so cool. It's like a machine gun. That's something I would have loved when I was a kid and it's a striper battle toy. I don't know. It's really neat. Well,

Michael Sweet: 29:40

we're all kids still at heart, man. Yeah, right. And we came up with the idea to create this toy van replica to mostly to write down to every detail but not 100% of the original striper soldier and a command van that's on the cover. And we read Always once we decided to do with it, it's very expensive to do because these things are really well made. They're not just cheap. Yeah. And therefore the price tag is on the higher side. But man, I think they're sold out. And we're going to have them anytime now. And they're going to ship and people are going to love it. So cool.

Chuck Shute: 30:18

Okay, very cool. Well, I'll let you get to next interview. I always end each episode with a charity. Is there a nonprofit or a cause that people can donate money to after they buy some striper stuff?

Michael Sweet: 30:28

Oh, my gosh, we work with a number of nonprofits and they're all slipping my mind right now. My wife worked for our cupcake guide. She was there for years. And I know that straight for donated a lot to that. And so that's a great one.

Chuck Shute: 30:45

I'll put that in the notes along with your website and people could check for the new albums coming out and check tour dates if they're coming to their city. All right, brother. All right. Thanks so much, Michael. I was a lot of fun. God bless you, man. Have a good one. Thank you so much. All right. Keep in touch bye bye. Take care. Okay, thank you again to Michael Sweet. Make sure to check out the new singles that are out now and the upcoming album from striper. Check the website for current tour dates. If you are a fan of these bands, make sure you support them, go see a show, buy some merch, follow them on social media share their stuff, et cetera. Still just trying to keep rock alive. And not just music but I try to support other art authors. I have a good variety of guests. If you want to support my show. Your likes, shares and comments on YouTube and social media helped me out immensely and I'm eternally grateful. Have a great day and shoot for the moon.