In a new interview with Neil Jones of TotalRock, UGLY KID JOE guitarist Klaus Eichstadt spoke about the progress of the recording sessions for the follow-up to the “Rad Wings Of Destiny” album, which came out in October 2022. Klaus said: “It’s actually really, really exciting. We’re super psyched ’cause we’ve pretty much finished recording every song, except I think we haven’t mixed one or two. So we’re, like, 95 percent done with it.

“It’s been a long two-and-a-half year process, recording bits and parts here between tours,” he explained. “We all live in separate states, basically, practically, and so to do it, we have to sort of figure out when and where. But we’re down to the last bit of it. We’ve got the artwork ready to go. We’re really excited about that. Everything sort of just came together in the last month, I would say, the last three weeks, everything kind of started coming together — titles and album covers and song lineup and the last mixes. So we’re right around the corner of getting ready to do that, get it out there.”

Regarding the musical direction of the new UGLY KID JOE material, Klaus said: “I think it’s pretty rad. It’s some of our best stuff. It’s definitely got some all-out heavy metal songs on it and everything in between — rock or mellow, everything. But it’s definitely a more heavy metal record than ‘Rad Wings’. And so that’s exciting, obviously. I like to consider us a heavy metal band above anything else. I mean, we’re rock band, but if you’re gonna lump us into a genre, I’d say heavy metal. I always have to tell people, ‘Hard rock, heavy metal,’ and I’m, like, ‘Ah. it’s heavy metal. We do dive bombs with the guitar. We’re heavy metal, dammit.'”

Asked if making an album “piecemeal” between tours allows for “more complexity or more variety” on the record or if it’s always better to “bash it out from start to finish” over the course of several weeks, if possible, Klaus said: “Obviously we’ve done it both ways. Back in the old days, we would really, for however many months, just write and then go right in the studio, and I think it’s great except… Both ways work great. What I do like about doing it in bits and pieces is you can step away from everything, let’s say for a couple months, go on tour, and all of a sudden you’re, like, ‘Oh, yeah. That part is weird. This part’s better. I’m gonna…’ You can rewrite stuff, you have more of that kind of thing, and also you have maybe songs coming from different places instead of the same place. What I mean by that is, like, I would think that if you have this one month to write and you’re in a certain environment, whether it be a secluded castle somewhere, like maybe LED ZEPPELIN would have done, or like us, like, ‘Oh, Whit‘s (UGLY KID JOE vocalist Whitfield Crane) in Australia at some thing,’ you have that vibe of that place. And I think if you have like four or five places during the creation of the record, you might have four or five different, I guess you could say elements, that are — I guess you could say that the antennas are in different places, so you’re picking up different frequencies, which might create a different vibe for each song instead of all being the same. And again, there’s nothing wrong with having an album that’s like a concept album, like the whole thing’s kind of one big thing — nothing wrong with that — but there’s also kind of the beauty of having all songs come from different places. And with us, it’s even different writers. I like writing alone, so I’ll just be in my shed for however long working on, let’s say, a song, and I get in my own little world, and it’s nice not having any distractions, not even having anybody coming in and be, like, ‘Oh, what about this part?’ And then, when I’m finally done with it, now I can throw it to the guys and then they can tweak it. So sometimes when you’re all in a room with too many cooks in the kitchen, and then next thing you know, you’re, like, ‘What happened to that song? It’s not at all what I imagined. Now it sucks.'”

Asked if UGLY KID JOE works “as a democracy” during the songwriting process where it’s “a case of the best ideas are the ones that make it on the record”, Klaus said: “Oh, yeah. It’s always the best ideas, and everybody throws in their songs. Let’s just say Whit, myself and Dave (Fortman, UGLY KID JOE guitarist and producer), who are the main writers, we all each wrote about three songs, and if one of ’em doesn’t make it, it doesn’t make it. And if someone else has four and another guy has one, that’s how it is. And for the most part, we don’t care because we know that if it’s a good song, it’s great for the band. It doesn’t matter who wrote it. (UGLY KID JOE‘s hit cover of Harry Chapin‘s) ‘Cats In The Cradle’, nobody wrote that — none of us — but it’s great for the band. I love playing songs that other guys wrote. I’d rather learn a Dave Fortman riff than a — I don’t know —a BEATLES riff. I mean, I’d rather be, like, ‘Oh, it’s one of ours.'”

After Jones noted that “it’s a nice bit of synergy” for UGLY KID JOE to be returning to the KK’s Steel Mill in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom at the end of November, being that the venue’s ambassador is none other than former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing, and the “Rad Wings Of Destiny” title is a nod to PRIEST‘s “Sad Wings Of Destiny”, Klaus said: “Yeah, totally. And K.K. introduced us one of the last times we played there. And that in itself is an honor. And I don’t know if I’m allowed to say anything, but he plays on our new record. And I just said it, so sorry, guys, if I wasn’t supposed to say anything.”