WARRANT’s JOEY ALLEN On Performing Live Amid Coronavirus Pandemic: ‘We’re Definitely Not Gonna Be The First Guinea Pigs’

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In a new interview with the "80's Glam Metalcast" podcast, WARRANT guitarist Joey Allen spoke about the band having to postpone its "Cherry Pie" 30th-anniversary tour due to the coronavirus pandemic which is sweeping the globe. He said (hear audio below): "We got into this business because we love music, we're fans of music and we love playing music. And we were fortunate enough to have a great songwriter in the band back in the day and get some success. So now our whole goal is to get out there and play and have it be fun for people and have people have a great time. And there's nothing about having a great time if you get sick. So, to be honest with you, that's the most important thing to us — is just to kind of wait until we see what goes on with possibly a vaccine or if it's mitigated a little bit more in areas." He continued: "Right now, we don't have any large outstanding plans to tour; we're just kind of sitting back and waiting until… We're definitely not gonna be the first guinea pigs, let's put it that way. Just because there's too much at stake, man. So, [WARRANT's] 'Cherry Pie' [album] turns 30 in September, and hopefully next year will be a good year for us. We may get some dates in this year, but the most important thing is the health of our fans, our crew, the people that work at the shows and everybody involved." This past May, WARRANT guitarist Erik Turner told the "Talking Metal" podcast that the group was "throwing some ideas around" for a new LP. He said: "I've been sending Robert [Mason, vocals] some riffs, and Robert's been working on songs. I've got a song going with Jerry [Dixon, bass]. So it's a slow, long process for us, but the seed of a new record has been started. Now, that doesn't mean the seed will grow into a record. We've got a long way to go. We don't have one finished song. We've got a couple of things cooking, and we're actually sending ideas around back and forth to each other." WARRANT's latest album, "Louder Harder Faster", was released in May 2017. The disc was recorded with producer Jeff Pilson — a veteran bassist who has played with DIO, FOREIGNER, DOKKEN and T&N, among others — and was mixed by Pat Regan, except for the song "I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink", which was mixed by Chris "The Wizard" Collier (FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, PRONG, LAST IN LINE). Back in 2018, Turner told the "Let's Talk" radio show that he and his bandmates still enjoy the recording process. "Playing live is a lot funner, but it feels good to create new music," he said. "A lot of bands from our genre aren't creating new music nowadays, and if they do, they put out four or five songs because of the musical environment we're in, but if we're going to do one song, we might as well do fourteen." Mason replaced original WARRANT frontman Jani Lane in 2008 and has brought a degree of stability to the band after Lane's unceremonious departure and subsequent 2011 death. WARRANT is rounded out by original member Steven Sweet (drums).