Former MANOWAR guitarist Ross “The Boss” Friedman has blasted the current version of the band, calling them “mediocre fucking pieces of shit” and dismissing the group’s recent musical output as “terrible.”
A founding member of MANOWAR, Ross recorded six albums with the band before leaving after 1988’s “Kings Of Metal”. His work with MANOWAR included such classic LPs as 1982’s “Battle Hymns”, 1983’s “Into Glory Ride” and 1984’s “Hail To England”.
Friedman discussed his time with MANOWAR during an interview with Waste Some Time With Jason Green. Recalling the circumstances surrounding his exit from the group more than three decades ago, he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “When a band gets big and the money hits, greed, avarice and evil takes place. A guy that I thought was my partner wasn’t,” he said, referring to MANOWAR leader and bassist Joey DeMaio. “So he wanted me [out]. He goes, ‘You’ve gotta go.’ I go, ‘Really? I’ve gotta go why? I’ve gotta go why? We’re equal partners, 50 percent. Why do I have to go? Why don’t you go?’ The whole thing is he was so — his antics and his bullshit was so insane that I had it up to [my neck] with him. When you have it up to [your neck] with someone, you’ve just gotta go, ‘Get the fuck outta here. I can’t take this anymore.’
“[It was] ego, greed, avarice, evil [that caused me to depart],” he explained. “When [Joey] met me, I had already four major albums. He had done zero. Joey DeMaio was nobody. When he met me, I had already done four. I had no will to fight him. If I were to fight him, I would have killed him. He’s just a fucking pariah… You can’t live with that. My heart couldn’t take it. I can’t take evil. And I know people are gonna be… [It’s gonna be] hard [for them] to hear that, but I’m better off now. I really am.”
Ross went on to say that he has never been approached about returning to MANOWAR. As for whether he would consider playing with the band again, he said: “Well, if the financial arrangements were right. But [Joey is] the kind of scumbag that would never have that… I’ll never say no, but you never know. I just called him a scumbag, so… It’s not gonna happen. He’s secure in the fact that MANOWAR are mediocre fucking pieces of shit right now. What they’re putting out to the public [is] just terrible.”
Ross was one of the pioneers of both punk rock and heavy metal. First crashing on the scene with THE DICTATORS and with such classic albums as 1975’s “Go Girl Crazy!”, 1977’s “Manifest Destiny” and 1978’s “Bloodbrothers”, Ross helped trailblaze punk rock (just to put it all in perspective, “Go Girl Crazy!” arrived a full year before the RAMONES‘ debut, and two years before THE CLASH‘s and SEX PISTOLS‘ debuts). By the end of the ’80s, Ross had reconnected with his DICTATORS bandmates in MANITOBA’S WILD KINGDOM, which served as a bridge between his love of punk and metal, as heard on the group’s popular 1990 debut, “…And You?” Throughout the remainder of the decade, Ross also played with such groups as THE HELLACOPTERS and THE SPINATRAS, before THE DICTATORS reunited, which resulted in several new releases starting from the late ’90s all the way through the early 21st century. Also around this time, Ross joined forces with former of BLUE ÖYSTER CULT drummer Albert Bouchard in the band BRAIN SURGEONS. With Ross‘s main focus turning to metal music at this time, two additional projects were launched — DEATH DEALER and his solo outfit, ROSS THE BOSS.
