Manowar (band)

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• I believe in the fans, I believe in metal more than anybody you've ever met. And you've known me a long time. I've never pissed on you even though you constantly do it to me. And I don't stab the fan in the back. And another thing, I'm prepared to die for metal. Are you?
  • During a 2006 interview with the Rock Hard magazine.
• Heavy Metal will never die!
  • During the Monsters of Rock in Brazil (2002). Recorded on the DVD Fire and Blood
• I'm sorry, I don't listen to country music.
  • Joey DeMaio when asked what he thought about Metallica. One possible reason that DeMaio may have shown his dislike for Metallica was that in 1999 there was a Gods of Metal fest, and Manowar played Nessun Dorma for their Italian fans; Metallica had played the night before, and James Hetfield was not happy with the song Manowar decided to play.
• We care about our bands, the quality of music and the metal fans more than anyone else!
  • Joey DeMaio in the Magic Circle Music website.
• If you're not into Metal - you are not my friend! (a line from "Metal Warriors" from The Triumph of Steel album, 1992)

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• 'True metal' is music that's true to the style of classic heavy metal. It's not diluted. It's not pussied out. It's not wimped out. It's played from the heart, 100 percent.
• Each day, you wake up and get out of bed knowing that there is shit waiting for you. Each day is a struggle, a battle and you must prepare for these battles, these wars. You have to be prepared. That is where the spirit of MANOWAR comes in. It is for everybody, both men and women, who have the fighting spirit. You either fight to win or your throw up your hands and admit that you are fucked.
• This is what we do. And if you like it, good. If not, go fuck yourself.
• We just live the part of Metal, you know. We are here to rock, drink and fuck. And that's it. The power is in the music.
• Somebody who never compromised their music and their integrity. And never screwed their fans. Somebody who always delivered Metal, and melted people's faces at maximum power.
  • Joey DeMaio on how he would like to be remembered.
• I know that a lot of people are against us. But they can get fucked and eat shit and die. Manowar are here to show everybody else that Metal will live on
• We play Metal pure, you know. We don't play radio bullshit. We don't suck ass.
• WE ARE NOT FASCISTS ! The people who say that are frustrated. If all those people would fuck more, they wouldn't be so frustrated ! The real fans know better. And concerning the violence, we think it's better to sing about violence than to see it happen.(1989)
• " Taxes, ticket prices and the death are out of my control. Believe me: if I could, I would control the prices! If I could, I would change so much in this world! You wouldn’t recognise this dammed world! I’m living in a country where you can drink alcohol with 21 but with 18 join the army and kill. Gimme a fuckin’ break! I’m not responsible for the problems of this world! And neither for the ticket- and CD-prices! What is in my power I’ll do. I’m helping the world to be a little more worth living with my music. " (2003)
• One can accuse me of many things – and some things may be correct. There are things about me I don’t like myself – like for instance that I’m not a Mozart who writes new perfect songs everyday. And I do not have a box at home with ready-written demotapes which I could get out on demand. As much as I wished it was like that, the reality is different (2003)
• The bigger a band gets, the more enemies you have.. even more, when you’re called Manowar, hahaha ! (2003)
• We’re polarising, and with growing success the complaints grow as well. But in contrast to most of the other bands of our size we don’t bow under that pressure. We don’t mock about our fans and we’re not changing our image or style. About how many other huge bands can you say that? You’d rather see me die than going the way of certain other bands. And I mean it. I’d rather be dead! (2003)
• Every musician who ever played with Manowar took an oath to do our best to bring our music to as many metal-fans as possible. I’m not kidding. We took that holy oath many years ago and set the seal on it with blood. And we won’t break the oath for any kind of asshole! (2003)
• This is the way it's always going to be, you have people who are negative and you have people who are positive. You can't change that, you just have to do the best you can in life and be your own person and give 100 percent truth from your soul to your music, to your fans. That's all you can do. And fortunately, we have the greatest fans in the world. (2004)
• We throw a lot of ideas out, which have a quality other bands would never reach. But finally we are Manowar !
• The word "it" has only 2 meanings for us : either "That's it!" or "Sh-it!".

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• It's a shame that future musicians growing up now are being influenced by trash; it's really upsetting. You are basically formed by what your influences are and if you've got losers for influences, you're going to have a hard time overcoming that.
  • Eric Adams in an interview conducted in 1988.

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• Our history has been early struggle. Our history's been believing in Metal. Livin' the life of Metal. Not takin' shit from anybody. That's why we've been with 20-some record labels. Believing in just the fans. We started off playing for a hundred people and now we're playing for thousands. It's just been built up like that. The history has just been blood, sweat, and guts and it continues. (2002)
• When people listen to this, they say "In the land of cotton? What the Hell is this all about?" But that's the song, and to do it justice, you have to do it exactly like the original composer wanted it done. So, we really took Elvis' version and copied it exactly. I mean exact! When you listen to it, you're going to hear the fluctuation of timings throughout the whole thing. There's not four measures that are exact same tempos. They constantly fluctuate back and forth, so it's so perfect, that if you could listen to the Elvis version, you could a/b it to our version and it's right there. (2002)
• I'm in it for the love of Metal. I'm in it for the art of Metal and just doing what I love to do. (2002)
• Someone asked me what I thought the future of Metal is and I told him "The next Manowar album (2002)
• I went to Hard Knocks University. I think the best training you can get is being out there on the road and just doing it and making your mistakes and fucking up and finding out what you did wrong and correct it. That's how I've done my vocals. (2002)
• 'it purposefully has no face because it's our hero...it's a hero that we all need, and the no face is because that hero could be anybody. Could be you, could be me, could be the chick you fucked last week, could be any face...and that's the hero in all of us and that's why it represents power, it represents what metal is. It represents a leader: you can bet your fuckin' ass that that guy doesn't follow anything, he leads (refering to the faceless warrior) (2004)
• To be on the road, that's what I was born for and that´s what everybody in the band was born for. To get out there and rock, drink and fuck and that´s exactly what we do. And not necessarily in that order ha, ha, ha! (2004)
• You need to be ready to listen to people who can teach you something; otherwise you’d never improve yourself. So in general I’m ready to learn – but I won’t let some ignorant asshole provocate me. There’s that old saying by Native Americans: Never judge somebody without having walked in his moccasins two miles. (2003)

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• We are Manowar, we're not gonna fucking change! Some people don't realize that what we are doing is real. It's real to us, it's real to our fans, and THAT'S why we're not gonna change it. (2002)
• We are Manowar, we don't live to please the critics. We only care about the fans, and journalists don't mean a thing to us. (2002)
• Every day there's something that people are fighting for or against , so these things are in our record. All you need is in yourself. I believe people make their own heaven and their own hell. It's up to you to choose. (2003)
• Our message is pretty much positive. We say that you are your own God, what you make of your life is your own choice (2003)
• Adding Rap to Rock is like taking the most beautiful girl you've ever seen to a plastic surgeon, and ask him to put a penis on her. I don't even call those bands metal, that's an insult to everybody who works with this music. It's a downright shame, that some people are confusing that shit with metal. The only reason I could figure out why people would call those bands metal is because there are teenage journalists who have never heard REAL metal before. I consider it an insult to us and our fans. It's degrading. (2002)

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• We don’t really care what anybody does. We only care what we do. You know what I mean, we don’t like to look to other bands to see what they are planning or what they are dressing like or what they are doing. We don’t give a shit! We give a shit about Manowar
• If you as a musician really love what you do, you can survive. We always did, what "felt good" to Manowar. I don't know if it would be harder to get to the status we have now, if we just started yet. I am simply convinced that you can achieve succes when you believe in what you do and stay true. No matter what other people say: "follow your heart". If you always listen to what others say, it's hard to find your own way. If you care less about the stuff that others say you will find your way for sure and get by very well. That should not mean that you should not listen to others anyway. Because nobody got his wisdom from the whiskey bottle. And everyone can and should take a real look at himself, think about his behaviour and change sometimes. And the needed impulse for it comes often from outside. The only thing you have to do is to decide whether this impulse comes from the right side or not. And you should not stick to a oneway thinking, nor should you let others confuse you. At least not when it comes to tastes. Insofar we are not happy as hell about good reviews and we don't cry when we get bad ones. Positive feedback is good, but does not change reality (2002)