July 13, 2025 • 40 mins
Rockers! The most legendary rock photographer in the history of rock is back on ABAO again! Mark Weiss returns and we are discussing his new project and amazing magazine "Rocked" Of course with all the news about Rocked, we can't forget to mention that Mark was also at the final Ozzy/Black Sabbath performance "Back to the Beginning" With a long history with Ozzy himself this was a monumental moment and for some of the greatest and most iconic photos of Ozzy you've ever seen check out his book "The Decade That Rocked" as well. Most importantly if you are into the greatest photos in Rock n Roll history....YOU can help Rocked Magazine get off the ground with some incredible rewards!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rockedmag/rocked-magazine
Get Rocked!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rockedmag/rocked-magazine
Get Rocked!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gearnetwork dot com. The following is a presentation of the
Gear Radio Network. Hey, this is Skip Winger and you're
listening to All Bets Are Off podcasts with Robbie Vegas.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
What's up, rock soldiers. This is the rockstar Robbie Vegas.
Thank you once again for joining me on the All
Bets Are Off podcast today. For the second time on
All Bets Are Off, I am joined by legendary rock
photographer Mark Weiss. Now, for my new listeners, you can
go back and listen to my original interview with Mark,
but we're going to talk about some different stuff today
(00:47):
and we probably still will touch on the Decade That Rocked,
which is his book that came out around the last
time that we spoke. So I'm looking forward to this interview.
There's a lot of stuff going on and I can't
wait to bring you guys. So let's not waste any
time and jump right into it and get Mark on
the line. All right, Mark, thank you so much for
being here, man. I appreciate it. How you doing today,
(01:08):
I'm doing pretty good.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
How you doing? I am living the dream.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I'm happy to have you here and I'm excited to
talk to you about the things that I have written
on my little.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
List over here, right.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, I want to start with something incredibly recent, is
the back to the beginning where you actually were, and
I have some things I want to ask you about,
but just to start, like, what was it like just
being there for such a moment.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
It was unbelievable. I mean when I got there and
I went to rehearsals the day before the show, and
it was just like a high school reunion, you know,
like all your buds from forty years ago just hanging out.
Just everyone is like a love fest, you know. And
(01:55):
you know they had their schedule, Like when I got there,
Antrax was there and they had a red sound check
and then Rudy Sarzo showed up and at Jaki Lee.
I mean, you know, it was just crazy.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I mean, now I wanted to to bring up something,
as you said, there was two photos that you actually
took that were hanging in the in the museum at
this event.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Correct. Yeah, that's such a trip. So the first time
I shot Ozzy live was at the Capitol theaterre and
Passaic in New Jersey, and that's the that's the time
I did a photo shoot with Tommy, Rudy Ozzy and
Randy right a few months before Randy passed away. And
(02:40):
and that photo from that shot show was featured in
the museum like two of my photos, about maybe four
feet by three feet, and right behind it it was
like a big digital screen of that that tour. Wasn't
the concert I was at, but it was, you know,
it was wearing the same thing. So, and there was
(03:01):
only one other photograph in the museum besides my too,
or maybe there was a couple of them, but most
of the artifacts were his, like gold records that he
had in his home, his MTV awards, grammy, you know,
those kind of things. But it was pretty cool seeing
Ozzie's history and his rewards awards in such a place
(03:25):
of you know, in the museum. I mean, you know,
it's pretty pretty trippy. Now.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I want to stay on that topic for just one second,
because you know, you talk about all of his accomplishments
in his career, but you played a big role in
that yourself. Because there's a lot of amazing photo shoots
that Ozzie's done, and a chunk of them are yours.
And I wanted to know if you had a favorite
that you've done for Ozzy that you could recall like
(03:51):
just being like, this is the one that I enjoyed
the most.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Well, I must say it was my first photo shoot
without and it was for the cover Circus magazine, and
I had my photo equipment. I went into the hotels
bringing everything in and Sharon said, you know, I want
you to meet Ozzie. And he's taking a bath and
(04:17):
I was like, all right, you know, I go in there.
He's just there's bubbles in it, and he's just kind
of lounging out and I shuck his hand and I
started getting some ideas all of a sudden, you know,
because I like to do a little bit. I like
to do something a little bit off the cuff, not
just just not just the photo shoot that I was
(04:39):
sent there to do, like a cover shoot with a backdrop,
because that's what I was there to shoot. And I
saw him in the bathtub and I said, you know,
how about I get my camera took some photos of
you in the bathtub. He's like all right, and then
and then I started thinking. Even then I went to
the to get my cameras and I saw an empty
bottle of Don Perry on uh, and I grabbed that
(05:02):
and I gave him the bottle and then I saw
a cigar that was like, you know, you know, they
must have seen it, must have smoked the night before.
And I took the cigar and I gave it to him,
and that's how we got that one photo that is
really one of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Oh, that's really cool, and I wanted to bring up
to that. There's a lot of great photos that you've
taken a Vassie that you included in the Decade That Rocked,
and that was one of the That was the first
time I ever had you on the podcast when the
Decade That Rock came out, So I just wanted to
re you know, explore that just for new listeners or
people that may not have heard the original episode. So
(05:39):
can we just plug the Decade That Rocked really quick
and you know, just talk about that. I know it's
you know, a few years ago, but it's just such
an amazing book. I just I can't help but talk
about it.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Oh, no, thanks, I appreciate it. It's it's still like on
the Amazon bestseller list on heavy metal and it's been
out for five years. In June and it came out
during COVID. It was really a direct because I spent
five years putting it together, and then the books got
held up in China because of all the stuff that
was going on with the COVID. So I spent all
(06:11):
five years, in the last six months getting ready to
do press for it, and all of a sudden, there's
no books. You know. I had a big gallery event
at a museum near my house that was booked. We
had to postpone that a few months. We didn't have
any books, and then we got one hundred books like
FedEx over when we had the opening a few months later.
But everyone had masks on and it wasn't what I
(06:34):
kind of envisioned, you know, So and at first I
was really bummed, and like, well, you know, COVID, I
mean everyone's bummed, but especially because you know, I spent this,
you know, five years making this book of my life
and I couldn't promote it. And then I said, well, yeah,
I can promote it, you know, And that's when everyone
(06:55):
started doing video interviews online and doing that whole you know,
the zoom that all of a sudden everyone knows what
zoom is, you know, nobody knew before that, you know,
or a handful of us, but everyone took advantage of it.
I sat down in front of the computer and started
talking to people, and the book it took off. You know,
(07:19):
it started doing good. Rolling Stone did a feature on it,
Spin did a feature of The Washington Post. So I
started getting all this press, and really for the next
year or two, when COVID was happening, I was just promoting,
promoting because I couldn't be shooting. I couldn't shoot anything,
so that's kind of what I focused on. So it
probably did better than if I would have just done
(07:41):
a few gallery openings and book signing. So and then
when COVID was over, then I had a second rush
on it. So you know, I had a second life.
And it's still doing well. I mean I still go
to events and my gallery and and you know, bring
books with me. I go on the Monster Rock Crews
every year and I bring about one hundred books, which
(08:03):
all I can bring was they're six pounds each, and
I sell them out, you know, I sign them, but
I sell them online at on my website Markwis dot com,
and I you know, I sign them. There's different bundles,
but yeah, it's I'm proud of them. I'm proud of
the book, and it's, uh, you know, I almost can't
believe I did it because it's like, you know, it's
(08:25):
just overwhelming. And now I'm at a place where like,
I should do another book like this, and I have
a lot of ideas, but it's like I don't. I
don't have the mind set to like, you know, put
five years into it, which I won't do anymore, but
even a year, you know, because I think I can
pull it off with it six months in a year.
(08:45):
But I kind of want to relax a little bit,
you know. Yeah, yeah, but I need I still like
seeing my photos in print, like you know, when I
used to when I started shooting, Like my first picture
when I was eighteen, I in uh, I had my
first picture in Circus magazine of Steven Tyler, and I
(09:07):
look at it and it's like the photo credit. So
I still I missed that. And even though now the
decade the rocks out, all right, I need to do
another book. I need to do something. So that's when
I decided to do something a little different and a
little more practical and not take so long, which leads
(09:29):
me to Rock Magazine, which I did on the Mantrater
Rock cruise. So I about a week before the cruise,
about a year and a half ago, I asked Larry
uh Larry Moran, who runs the ship, if if I
can you know, sell my magazines because the books were
(09:52):
you know, getting you know, too heavy, and they were
just it was just a pain in the neck and
the magazines were light, and so I thought that He said, sure,
if you can pull it together. And we're literally a
week before the cruise, you know, pulled together a magazine
I had. I had a local printer nearby, so that
was you know, logistically could happen, but we had to
(10:13):
create it. I'm not a I'm not a technical graphic designer.
I know what I like. I put this over there,
put this over there, but I don't have the you know,
you know, to know how to lay it out and
proper borders and the whole thing. But my girlfriend, Michel
(10:33):
is a graphic designer and does websites and along with
a ballet bar company that she's very successful in. But
she kind of you know, we talked about it and
she said she would be willing to do it. So
she basically did the first issue like in three days
and then we had to print it and just had
(10:54):
it for the day before we had We printed a
hundred of them and I had some books too, and
we sold out all the magazines. So the fans really
liked it. So all the artists that were on the
ship I shot back in the eighties, so it was
kind of easy to put together. I mean for me
to edit it. It's not like the book. The decade
they rocked is just to find a you know, this
(11:16):
is going to be like a pin up magazine and
the centerfold, you know, and a little blurb about each band,
you know, just something simple and fun. And it worked,
you know, it was a pin up magazine. And then
we did it again this last cruise, which is about
three months ago in April, when we went, did the
same thing. This time we did we put Jeff Keith
(11:37):
on the cover with on one side because they were
headlining with Tesla, Yes, and we put Stephen Pearcy on
the other side, yes, yes, I have.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
It here and here it is and and then this
is what so this is the magazine just like old school, and.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Then this is you know, yeah that's awesome, and then
we have the centerfolds. Of course, Sadashian wasn't performing on it,
although we did a couple of songs, but he had
art gallery. Uh went with gallery, which I have I'm
involved in as well. But you know this pin ups Tamy,
(12:25):
you know, in a band photo from back in the day,
so you know, any band that was there, you know, slaughter,
So it was pretty simple. But uh so we did
that and then I was like, you know, everyone really
liked it. They said, when's the next one coming out?
And I started. I talked to Michel and we started,
(12:47):
you know, a company together. We said maybe we should
try to do this quarterly, like do four a year
and eventually maybe do one a month. But we have
to figure out way to monetize it and make sure
because there's a lot ofduction costs and things like that.
Right now we're kind of kind of breaking even. And
that's without me getting paid for my photography because you know,
(13:08):
it's my passion. So I you know, I just wanted
to be there because for me to see all my
photos in a magazine where they're all mine on the cover,
and that's what I live for it, you know. Yeah,
so you know, you got to pay the people that
put it together and the printers and this and that.
So we decided to do a Kickstarter campaign and and
(13:32):
what we did was we just started a couple of
weeks ago and it goes to August fourteenth, and there's
different tiers, so you know, for like twenty bucks, you
can you know, you know, the reward is one magazine
or you can get four. But the third issue is
going to be David le Rowth on the cover. Oh wow. Yeah.
(13:54):
So when M three played about a month or two ago,
he was performing there and with all the art artists,
I turned issue too into the davidly Roth issue. So
it's most of the most of it inside is from
the second issue, and we did new layouts with Van
Halen and and they're my stories about me going on
(14:17):
tour with them. We're turning it more into you know,
my laminate letters that I that the management wrote to me,
you know like this, So it's kind of like a
book in a way. And ye, the way mckel designed
it was really not really cool. And and so we
did that and then we took it a step further
(14:39):
just for something different, and uh, we did something with
with rap with Adrian Stone, who is the writer for
Hip Prayer Back, in the day and she let us
use her her interview that she did with Steven, like
right before, right before they went out, like for the
(15:00):
first album, like the EP. So oh yeah, so it's
like a perspective of of where Steven's head was at
instead of something new, you know. Yeah. So then it's
starting to develop into that. So it's it's got some
fun layouts. It's like a photo shoot I did with
Leada for Faces in eighty three and there's like an
(15:20):
old interview in there too, some Q and a stuff.
So we're developing that and that's up and you can
one of the rewards on the Kickstarter is this issue.
You know, you can like, you know, put twenty bucks
down and you get this if we make it, but
you know you can also get this and something else.
There's a whole it goes up pretty high. You can
(15:42):
you can get my gallery prints at a fraction of
the costs. That's up there, and you just have to
go over to the site and see. It has our
whole story, it has all the artist a lot of artists,
you know, doing a little promo for me, which is
so it's really well done. And then uh, you know,
the Ozzy Show was coming up, so I said, we
(16:05):
still didn't have a cover picked for the fourth issue
or even a concept or anything. So uh, I said,
why don't we do make it an Ozzie issue or
Ozzy and whoever's on the bill, which is you know, Slayer, Pantera, Anthrax,
Metallica and Guns and Roses, so make it like you know.
(16:25):
So what I did was mckel designed the new cover
and that's cool. And this is the picture that's in
the museum too, by the way, this one, Oh wow, yeah,
that's great. So we have you know, Tom from Slayer
and Axel and uh we threw dine Bag in there,
you know, and Joey is in there and James and
(16:50):
Zach Wilde. So that's gonna So the front of it's
going to be, you know, photos from Ozzy, my my
story with with Ozzy, like this is my story with
so it's kind of about my story and my involvement
with Ozzy, and then with some photos and pin ups
and then on the backside, this is just a mock up,
so this is not going to be real. We might
(17:11):
make this like a collectible cover like maybe have four covers,
but on this side, which is the back cover, is
going to be a live shot of Ozzie that I
shot over the weekend and then have all the bands
that were here, you know, the new pictures be here,
so they'll kind of like meet in the middle, you know,
(17:32):
in the centerfold. They'll meet in the centerfold and there'll
be a picture of Ozzy in the centerfold, you know.
Well yeah, yeah. And so our tagline is rocked where
past is Present. So that's our concept pretty much, and
we're just trying to spread the word. You know. Thanks
for helping out and anyone that's listening just go over
(17:52):
there and check it.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Out absolutely, And when this drops, I'm going to have
the link in the description on Spotify, Apple and YouTube
and serious and all the places that we are, and
it'll be out on Instagram and all that, so everybody
should be able to find the link for the kickstarter
super easy. And I want to point out too that
on the Montes Rock CERs this year was the first
time I got to flip through rock magazine and I
(18:15):
thought it was absolutely incredible And I wanted to ask you,
because you've been doing this for so long, You've taken
so many iconic photos of so many legendary bands, how
are you picking the pictures to go into these magazines,
because you must have thousands of pictures and they're all
just amazing. And like I said, I flipped through a
couple of the magazines at this point and I'm just
(18:36):
amazed at the pictures that you picked. So how are
you doing that?
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Well, this is a lot easier than the Decade That
Rocks because the Decade that rocked, it's like I had
a story to tell. This is just like pin ups
and fun photos. So generally it's like one pin up
of the singer and a group photo. So I have
every every time someone has a birthday or anniversary or
(19:04):
someone passed away, we do social media and we post
a picture and we put a quote up from what
the artists might have said at one point. So over
the over the years, since you know, the Internet was
started cranking, that's what I started doing. So I have
a lot of those photos that are just you know,
scanned and also scanned, uh, because you have to scan them,
(19:27):
like you know. Sometimes it's rare that I have to
go back in the files because I hate digging into
those files. I have a two car garage filled with
you know, hundreds of thousands if not a million transparencies.
So I do go in there when I have to,
like when I do my books on the bands, I
have to do that, or or when we do a
lot of my photographs are licensed to documentaries, and that's
(19:53):
when I kind of dig in and start scanning, and
then you know, it's just if I had to do
everything at once, never happened. But over the you know,
last ten years, fifteen years, it's been you know, a
little build. So I have I have a nice archive,
and I have someone that works for me, Camille, who's
been with me for over thirty years. That's does my
(20:13):
business end. So I hate doing all the business and
doing all that stuff. So I luckily I have someone
that's really good and I just say I need like yeah,
Autograph is doing a like a best of record with
one of the record labels, and you know it's not
a lot, it's not a big budget, of course, you know,
(20:34):
no one has budget. They're just printing like a thousand CDs.
But they want to use my photos and they you know,
the budget wasn't there, and they were kind of embarrassed
to ask me, but they were I like that when
they asked me, they say, look, I know this is
not what you get, you know, and I understand if
you can't do it. I don't want to insult you.
(20:56):
But this is all we got, you know. And I
know that you know, and I know the guys in
Auto uh you know, three of them died unfortunately. Yeah,
but you know, I know, I know them. They're going
on the cruise and you know, I want to help them,
and also I want to see my pictures in their
CD you know. And so we work something out where
(21:16):
I'll tell you what, why don't I put them in
the Daily Roth issue Because they opened up for it
was like the first big band that they opened up for.
And uh, well, I'll do a little story in the
magazine and uh, you know that you can promote the magazine,
put it on your social media, and they and they offered,
(21:37):
the record company offered to give me a couple of
panels where I can, like, you know, talk about Autograph
a little bit and then talk about the magazine. And
since I did the picture on the cover, it's it's
interesting to the reader too, you know. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I want to stay on the davidly Roth topic though
for a minute, because you mentioned M three and we
talked about daily out a couple of times, and I
was there, and I know he gave you a shout
out too when he was up on stage, and I
thought that was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, so I was I haven't like saw David for
you know, thirty plus years since ed him and smile,
you know. When I shot that tour and I reached
out to their management about a week before the show
and I asked if I could, you know, shoot the
whole show. I don't like shooting just three songs, and
they didn't get back to me, and then I called
(22:28):
again and didn't get back to me. Then I had
Camille reach out and I said, I give up. You know,
I hate rejection, you know. So she was kind of
persistent and she got through and talked to someone and
they said, if we're interested, we'll get back to you.
And I figured, all right, I'm just gonna go. I'll
shoot three songs and that's it. So the day before
(22:52):
the show, we get a call from or I got
a call from the manager or press person someone that's
you know, liaison with David, and said, David wants you
to shoot the show, the whole show. And I was like, oh,
that's you know, I was pumped. So the first time
I saw him was I was in the pit. He
(23:13):
wasn't seeing anyone before the show. Yeah, and I went there.
There was about you know, ten photographers you know, all around.
After they old left, David spotted me and he kind
of walked over to me and he said, hey, Mark,
take my picture, bitch. And it's on video, and if
(23:37):
you go to the Kickstarter, it's only on the Kickstarter.
There's a bunch of videos I talk about that. It's
like a little story because it's David E. Wess on
the cover and the video of him doing that and
and me and the pit, you know, and then just
a slide show of photos that I shot from that show,
which I didn't post yet. I'm gonna I'm gonna post
(23:58):
them problem right when his tour starts in a couple
of weeks. So I'm tying it together. So it's really
you can really only see that on the Kickstarter, so
you have to kind of you scroll down, learn about it,
you know, make a donation or do it rewards and
watch the video. It's a fun video.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Excellent that Yeah, that's that's a funny moment, but very cool,
very cool So the next thing I want to get
into here is just aside from you know, rock to
aside from a decade that rock just in general.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
If you had to.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Pick just a couple favorite photo shoots over the years,
who comes to mind first?
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Uh, that's a couple. Well, my favorite is this twis
his sister stay Hungry, just because it was a game
changer for me. It was my first album cover I
ever did, and it was a pretty intense, you know
situation where I had to build this you know, I
hire people to build this room that looked like what
(25:02):
the room looked like. You know, I got I got
you know, fake mice I got and at the end,
I went to the deli and I got this bone
and that's the bone that made made made the photo.
And uh, you know, just like my first photo on
Circus magazine that was on the cover, it was like wow,
and it was like, you know, it was on the
(25:24):
stand for a month. But with record covers, they're there forever.
You know, they take different forms, you know, you know
cassettes and CDs, eight tracks back even before cassettes and
then CDs and then out and then uh now it's
digital streaming. So when I'm listening to Ossie's Boneyard or
(25:45):
hair Nation, like I remember one time, and you know,
the picture comes out and it's really clear, you know,
it's like digital. You know, it pops right at you
and you know you're driving. You're hearing doc and you know,
a song from under Lock and Key, and they're there's
my album cover, you know. And then I'm driving, still driving,
you know, I'm looking at it and go, wow, cool
(26:05):
man forty years ago. Now I'm looking and I'm driving.
Then all of a sudden, I hear night Songs from
Cinderella and you know, there's my cover. You know, I'm driving,
and then all of a sudden they play something from
Slippery When Wet, you know, my cover and again, and
I go. Then I go to Ozzie's Boneyard and I'm listening.
(26:28):
As soon as I turned it over there there was
the last Command by Wasp and then it led into Anthrax.
I'm the man I did that cover too, So it's
kind of like a trip, you know, seeing my photos
and now it's streaming and who knows what's going to
happen in the future, I'm sure. Yeah, we always say,
like what else can there be? But there ends up
(26:50):
being something.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Right right, And I wanted to stop you there when
you said night Songs, because god, I like that album
cover growing up was like my favorite thing ever. So
you know, you as like a young rock fan and
you're like reading all the liner notes and learning all
the things about your favorite bands. Like the first time
I talked to you, that was like in the back
of my head, like, oh my god. I used to
stare at that album cover all night long and listen
(27:14):
to that thing, and now here we are having a
conversation about it. So it's kind of a trip for me.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And it's it's funny. It's like, you know, back then,
you know, the clothes started getting more and more outrageous,
you know, MTV and everything. Everyone was trying to outdo
each other. And you know, I remember when DOCN came
in with their outfits and they call it their waiter outfits.
Each one had their own color, you know, yeah, and red, purple,
(27:43):
green and orange or something, and I saw them and
I was like, okay, you know, I thought it was
a little much, and you know they did too, but
that's what they had. You know, I think it was
the first time they actually saw it. Like and they
put them on and it was really tight and uncomfortable
for him, but you know they made the best of it.
That was eighty five is when like glam metal was
(28:07):
at its hot highest, you know, the highest hair you know, poison.
That's when uh, Motley Crue, the Theater of Pain they did,
you know, they were doing the same thing. Uh so
you know when Docin did that. You know, we look
at it today and we kind of they're still blaming
before it, you know, but now, but it was really
(28:29):
like like they were like superheroes to like kids like
you back then, if you were like ten or eleven,
you look at him like, you know, wow, you know,
who are these guys? You know, like it's just characters. Yeah, absolutely,
and that's what that's what sold it. And and because
of the image and everything and MTV and photography and
all the magazines and the pin ups, like the eighties
(28:53):
that decade is really like that's why these bands and
the manst rock crews are doing so good because these
bands have an image and they're kind of sticking to
them a little bit, you know. I mean they don't
have they're not as glammy, but uh, you know, they
still the same attitude. Yeah, and they're not they're not
growing old like a lot of the other bands are.
(29:14):
And they're not you know, like the nineties bands or
they're not there. They have a tendency to more grow
old and grow beards and stuff now and you know,
be comfortable. But we still want to look good and
feel good. So it's I kind of lucked out for
that decade, you know, as to being in a rock photographer,
So I'm fortunate than that.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Yeah, and you were a huge part of all of
that and that whole movement, and I think it's really
incredible that we're still getting the magazine and the books
and and all of these things that you have going on.
Before I get you out of here, we're going to
just do a little little fun section that we do
with all of our guests now, which is just a
Lightning Round And it's just like at this or that
round of questions, just for our listeners to hear some
(29:54):
different stuff and get to know you on a different level.
So first lightning round question is going to be the
Chicago or New York style pizza.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
H New York, because I haven't had Chicago.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
All right, fair enough, how about dinner or dessert dinner?
Are we going chocolate or vanilla?
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Vanilla? Definitely?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
How about poison or Motley Crue, Motley, Ozzy or Alice?
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Hey, I mean Ozzy, but I love Alice.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
You know, no matter who people pick, when I say
that one, they always go this guy. But I love
that one too, and every every time, every time. How
about favorite movie?
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Uh, spinal Top? All right, favorite TV show? Let's see
the odd couple. Believe it or not?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
The great choice? Great choice. Here's a superstitious question for you.
Let's say you believe in you know all these crazy
things that happen in the Bermuda Triangle and your you
have to go through it. Are you taking a boat?
Are you taking a plane?
Speaker 1 (30:59):
And why? Well, the boat because you know at least
you're not you're you're grounded. I mean, you might get
sucked into the water. But the plane, you know, what
are you gonna do? Just disappear or go into the water,
so it might be a safer bed if you're you're
already on the water, right chance of survival. I always
(31:21):
got freaked out by that, by the way, when I
was a kid, I remember in the seventies, you know
it was like really happening, you know, I don't know.
Does it still happen?
Speaker 2 (31:32):
They say it does, and I'm amazed by it, which
is why I throw that question in there, because I
have a lot of paranormal and horror movie guests on
the show, so that question has got to be a
staple because it's it's still freaks me out. I watched
documentaries about it and it's just amazing. Yeah, Now, are
you a horror movie fan?
Speaker 1 (31:48):
No, absolutely not. I don't like it. I don't like Gore. Yeah,
I like, I like mysteries and like I started watching Dexter.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Oh yeah, we started that recently too.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Yeah, and I like his character, you know, but then
he's just started going on too much of a killing spree,
you know. And also I love I love the series,
you but then it just started getting a little crazy,
you know. And it's I still like it, it's just
and it's pretty much, you know, pretty pretty intense when
(32:22):
it comes to that. So I if it's got a
good I don't like, like, slice your head off and
the head falls off and the blood gushes off, even
if it's fake, I can't. I gotta look away.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
All right, fair enough, So my question now to bring
everything back around, is do you know where your next
appearance is going to be where you're going to have
rock magazine or a decade that Racked or anything like
that as that set up already.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna be at hair Fest in Boston
on Uh it's coming up. So your listeners, if you're
in the area, it's going to be on the nineteenth.
Oh wow, thank you August and Eddie Trunk's going to
be home hosting it. I did it last year or
another year before, and I had my books there and
my magazines and they have like it's a tribute band concert,
(33:09):
so you have like a like an Aussie tribute def
lepperd I think Poison maybe, and uh it you know,
brings a couple of thousand people people there. It's pretty
pretty good, good, good concert, excellent.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
So before we wrap it up, just uh, let's let
the listeners know where they could follow you for more
appearances and for links and for the magazine and for
the book and all of that. So what's your social
media so that people who don't already follow you could start.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, just go to mark weist dot com. That's my
that's my website. Markwis dot com. You could you pretty
much go anywhere with that. But also you can go
to for a rock magazine. We have a really killer
website that we just started and it's That's Rock mag
r O C K E, D M A G. And
that's all my social text too, So really trying to
(34:00):
bump that up. So anyone out there like it, you know,
really go, you know, try to help us out, share it,
tell your friends, because we want to make this magazine,
you know, at least four a year, and it's going
to have really cool content. I just posted something just
about it before I came on here of Rudy when
(34:22):
I got there. So I interview people, you know, I
bump into friends, you know, tell me how you're feeling,
what are we doing today. So gave me a really
nice interview talking about when he met Ozzie for the
first time. So I always like to say, you know,
give me something from the past and then give me
something from the present. Something want to promote something. So
it's kind of a simple concept, you know, it's an
(34:43):
easy one. I'm not a journalist, so I don't I'm
not a guy that can ask questions, but I can
ask you know, simple questions, tell me something from the past,
you know, from the from the present, and it seems
to work. And I just get short little answers and
you know, and then I post them and get a
(35:04):
little attention. So right now that's on there. And another
thing I did, I just started posting a lot of
my footage of crowds. I love crowds. I love talking
to them. I love watching them headbang and the reaction
because anyone could go on YouTube and see the performers,
you know, like Ozzy, like everyone's shooting them. But for me,
(35:27):
the real fun for me is to look at the
crowd and to see their expressions and how they're feeding off,
like Ozzy and Tony and Geezer and Bill. So this
show was only a half hour, so I couldn't do
it a lot. During that, my girlfriend Mickel was doing
some Body and stuff, so we started posting it in
(35:49):
between the bands because there was a revolving stage this weekend.
So I literally the first three or four bands, like Mastadon, Anthrax,
Rival Sons, they only have fifteen minutes three songs and
then then it would turn so I had like five
minutes to like, you know, get some interviews and then
(36:09):
shoot again, and then it turned into a half hour
when Slayer went on and Tool and you know, Guns
and Roses did a half hour, so and then there
was a supergroup with Sammy Hager and Steven Tyler and
Jake Lee and Rudy Sarzo and Tom Morello and Nuno Bettencourt.
(36:29):
I mean, it was just amazing. So I just started
posting some things like that, so, you know, just fun stuff.
Like when I got to the airport, I bumped into
Bobby Blitz from Overkill and he had he had a
I thought it was a Black Savager down but it
said it said black Heart. And I asked him, I said,
(36:51):
you know you're going to the show. He was going
to Switzerland or somewhere for a show, and that was
his friend's restaurant, but he felt like wearing it because
of the Black Sabbath weekend. And then we just started
talking and I said, you know, tell me something from
the past, and he teld me a great story where
before Overkill even started, or right when they started, he
(37:13):
was they were asked to be in Barking the Moon
and extras or something, and he had a funny story.
You got to go to my site, to our Instagram
or Facebook and you'll see the interview I did with Bobby.
So just you know, I just very casual. I filmed
with my phone and I just have you know, small
little conversations and you know, and they, you know, they
(37:36):
take off one of my videos of the crowd hit
like forty five thousand views, Like so who knows why,
you know what I mean, some had ten, some ait
five and you know, but so we're gonna be posting that.
I'm gonna be posting me at the museum, you know,
looking at my photographs and showing the museum and then
(38:01):
uh me taking pictures and backstage and all sorts of stuff. Amazing.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
And before the very last question is just you know,
being at back to the beginning and such a monumental moment,
what would you say was your absolute favorite part of
being there?
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Uh? Honestly, probably when it was over. It was a
long day, right, I mean I had to jump up
on the platform. If you if you watch it on
if anyone watches in the live stream, you'll see the
guy on the on the stage right, you know, if
you're looking at the stage on the left, and I'm
like the tallest guy on it. But that's where the
cameras are, the video cameras. But I was like right
(38:43):
next to it. Because it's such a high stage, it's
really hard to shoot. Most of the time I was
up there, but then I would get I would have
to get another shot on the other side, you know,
get a clean shot of Tony. So I would you know,
have to jump down and then go around and then
go back up. So my at the time, you don't
feel it, you know, it's like when you work out,
you don't feel it. But like after eight straight hours
(39:06):
of doing that, my legs just came back like this morning.
Oh I bet, I bet, But this is the this
is the past that I had. Oh that's great, you know,
and I'll be saving this of course. Yeah. Absolutely, my
wall of shame behind me, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
I mean, that's great stuff.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
I was trying to look behind you earlier.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
But so for anybody listening to this right now, the
kickstarter is live. You can contribute to Rocked magazine and
it's going to be in the description of this show
no matter where you're listening to it, So check the
description and make sure you're following Mark on either his website,
or Instagram or wherever you can. And man, thanks for
being here. I really appreciate you doing this.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Oh thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
All right, rockers Once again, Mark Weiss, make sure you
are following him on Instagram, check out his website, donate
to his Kickstarter for Rocked magazine, and make sure you
get rocked and we will see you next time on
the All Bets Are Off Podcast. The preceding presentation has
(40:33):
been brought to you by the Gear Network.
Gearnetwork dot com. The following is a presentation of the
Gear Radio Network. Hey, this is Skip Winger and you're
listening to All Bets Are Off podcasts with Robbie Vegas.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
What's up, rock soldiers. This is the rockstar Robbie Vegas.
Thank you once again for joining me on the All
Bets Are Off podcast today. For the second time on
All Bets Are Off, I am joined by legendary rock
photographer Mark Weiss. Now, for my new listeners, you can
go back and listen to my original interview with Mark,
but we're going to talk about some different stuff today
(00:47):
and we probably still will touch on the Decade That Rocked,
which is his book that came out around the last
time that we spoke. So I'm looking forward to this interview.
There's a lot of stuff going on and I can't
wait to bring you guys. So let's not waste any
time and jump right into it and get Mark on
the line. All right, Mark, thank you so much for
being here, man. I appreciate it. How you doing today,
(01:08):
I'm doing pretty good.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
How you doing? I am living the dream.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I'm happy to have you here and I'm excited to
talk to you about the things that I have written
on my little.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
List over here, right.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, I want to start with something incredibly recent, is
the back to the beginning where you actually were, and
I have some things I want to ask you about,
but just to start, like, what was it like just
being there for such a moment.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
It was unbelievable. I mean when I got there and
I went to rehearsals the day before the show, and
it was just like a high school reunion, you know,
like all your buds from forty years ago just hanging out.
Just everyone is like a love fest, you know. And
(01:55):
you know they had their schedule, Like when I got there,
Antrax was there and they had a red sound check
and then Rudy Sarzo showed up and at Jaki Lee.
I mean, you know, it was just crazy.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I mean, now I wanted to to bring up something,
as you said, there was two photos that you actually
took that were hanging in the in the museum at
this event.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Correct. Yeah, that's such a trip. So the first time
I shot Ozzy live was at the Capitol theaterre and
Passaic in New Jersey, and that's the that's the time
I did a photo shoot with Tommy, Rudy Ozzy and
Randy right a few months before Randy passed away. And
(02:40):
and that photo from that shot show was featured in
the museum like two of my photos, about maybe four
feet by three feet, and right behind it it was
like a big digital screen of that that tour. Wasn't
the concert I was at, but it was, you know,
it was wearing the same thing. So, and there was
(03:01):
only one other photograph in the museum besides my too,
or maybe there was a couple of them, but most
of the artifacts were his, like gold records that he
had in his home, his MTV awards, grammy, you know,
those kind of things. But it was pretty cool seeing
Ozzie's history and his rewards awards in such a place
(03:25):
of you know, in the museum. I mean, you know,
it's pretty pretty trippy. Now.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I want to stay on that topic for just one second,
because you know, you talk about all of his accomplishments
in his career, but you played a big role in
that yourself. Because there's a lot of amazing photo shoots
that Ozzie's done, and a chunk of them are yours.
And I wanted to know if you had a favorite
that you've done for Ozzy that you could recall like
(03:51):
just being like, this is the one that I enjoyed
the most.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Well, I must say it was my first photo shoot
without and it was for the cover Circus magazine, and
I had my photo equipment. I went into the hotels
bringing everything in and Sharon said, you know, I want
you to meet Ozzie. And he's taking a bath and
(04:17):
I was like, all right, you know, I go in there.
He's just there's bubbles in it, and he's just kind
of lounging out and I shuck his hand and I
started getting some ideas all of a sudden, you know,
because I like to do a little bit. I like
to do something a little bit off the cuff, not
just just not just the photo shoot that I was
(04:39):
sent there to do, like a cover shoot with a backdrop,
because that's what I was there to shoot. And I
saw him in the bathtub and I said, you know,
how about I get my camera took some photos of
you in the bathtub. He's like all right, and then
and then I started thinking. Even then I went to
the to get my cameras and I saw an empty
bottle of Don Perry on uh, and I grabbed that
(05:02):
and I gave him the bottle and then I saw
a cigar that was like, you know, you know, they
must have seen it, must have smoked the night before.
And I took the cigar and I gave it to him,
and that's how we got that one photo that is
really one of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Oh, that's really cool, and I wanted to bring up
to that. There's a lot of great photos that you've
taken a Vassie that you included in the Decade That Rocked,
and that was one of the That was the first
time I ever had you on the podcast when the
Decade That Rock came out, So I just wanted to
re you know, explore that just for new listeners or
people that may not have heard the original episode. So
(05:39):
can we just plug the Decade That Rocked really quick
and you know, just talk about that. I know it's
you know, a few years ago, but it's just such
an amazing book. I just I can't help but talk
about it.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Oh, no, thanks, I appreciate it. It's it's still like on
the Amazon bestseller list on heavy metal and it's been
out for five years. In June and it came out
during COVID. It was really a direct because I spent
five years putting it together, and then the books got
held up in China because of all the stuff that
was going on with the COVID. So I spent all
(06:11):
five years, in the last six months getting ready to
do press for it, and all of a sudden, there's
no books. You know. I had a big gallery event
at a museum near my house that was booked. We
had to postpone that a few months. We didn't have
any books, and then we got one hundred books like
FedEx over when we had the opening a few months later.
But everyone had masks on and it wasn't what I
(06:34):
kind of envisioned, you know, So and at first I
was really bummed, and like, well, you know, COVID, I
mean everyone's bummed, but especially because you know, I spent this,
you know, five years making this book of my life
and I couldn't promote it. And then I said, well, yeah,
I can promote it, you know, And that's when everyone
(06:55):
started doing video interviews online and doing that whole you know,
the zoom that all of a sudden everyone knows what
zoom is, you know, nobody knew before that, you know,
or a handful of us, but everyone took advantage of it.
I sat down in front of the computer and started
talking to people, and the book it took off. You know,
(07:19):
it started doing good. Rolling Stone did a feature on it,
Spin did a feature of The Washington Post. So I
started getting all this press, and really for the next
year or two, when COVID was happening, I was just promoting,
promoting because I couldn't be shooting. I couldn't shoot anything,
so that's kind of what I focused on. So it
probably did better than if I would have just done
(07:41):
a few gallery openings and book signing. So and then
when COVID was over, then I had a second rush
on it. So you know, I had a second life.
And it's still doing well. I mean I still go
to events and my gallery and and you know, bring
books with me. I go on the Monster Rock Crews
every year and I bring about one hundred books, which
(08:03):
all I can bring was they're six pounds each, and
I sell them out, you know, I sign them, but
I sell them online at on my website Markwis dot com,
and I you know, I sign them. There's different bundles,
but yeah, it's I'm proud of them. I'm proud of
the book, and it's, uh, you know, I almost can't
believe I did it because it's like, you know, it's
(08:25):
just overwhelming. And now I'm at a place where like,
I should do another book like this, and I have
a lot of ideas, but it's like I don't. I
don't have the mind set to like, you know, put
five years into it, which I won't do anymore, but
even a year, you know, because I think I can
pull it off with it six months in a year.
(08:45):
But I kind of want to relax a little bit,
you know. Yeah, yeah, but I need I still like
seeing my photos in print, like you know, when I
used to when I started shooting, Like my first picture
when I was eighteen, I in uh, I had my
first picture in Circus magazine of Steven Tyler, and I
(09:07):
look at it and it's like the photo credit. So
I still I missed that. And even though now the
decade the rocks out, all right, I need to do
another book. I need to do something. So that's when
I decided to do something a little different and a
little more practical and not take so long, which leads
(09:29):
me to Rock Magazine, which I did on the Mantrater
Rock cruise. So I about a week before the cruise,
about a year and a half ago, I asked Larry
uh Larry Moran, who runs the ship, if if I
can you know, sell my magazines because the books were
(09:52):
you know, getting you know, too heavy, and they were
just it was just a pain in the neck and
the magazines were light, and so I thought that He said, sure,
if you can pull it together. And we're literally a
week before the cruise, you know, pulled together a magazine
I had. I had a local printer nearby, so that
was you know, logistically could happen, but we had to
(10:13):
create it. I'm not a I'm not a technical graphic designer.
I know what I like. I put this over there,
put this over there, but I don't have the you know,
you know, to know how to lay it out and
proper borders and the whole thing. But my girlfriend, Michel
(10:33):
is a graphic designer and does websites and along with
a ballet bar company that she's very successful in. But
she kind of you know, we talked about it and
she said she would be willing to do it. So
she basically did the first issue like in three days
and then we had to print it and just had
(10:54):
it for the day before we had We printed a
hundred of them and I had some books too, and
we sold out all the magazines. So the fans really
liked it. So all the artists that were on the
ship I shot back in the eighties, so it was
kind of easy to put together. I mean for me
to edit it. It's not like the book. The decade
they rocked is just to find a you know, this
(11:16):
is going to be like a pin up magazine and
the centerfold, you know, and a little blurb about each band,
you know, just something simple and fun. And it worked,
you know, it was a pin up magazine. And then
we did it again this last cruise, which is about
three months ago in April, when we went, did the
same thing. This time we did we put Jeff Keith
(11:37):
on the cover with on one side because they were
headlining with Tesla, Yes, and we put Stephen Pearcy on
the other side, yes, yes, I have.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
It here and here it is and and then this
is what so this is the magazine just like old school, and.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Then this is you know, yeah that's awesome, and then
we have the centerfolds. Of course, Sadashian wasn't performing on it,
although we did a couple of songs, but he had
art gallery. Uh went with gallery, which I have I'm
involved in as well. But you know this pin ups Tamy,
(12:25):
you know, in a band photo from back in the day,
so you know, any band that was there, you know, slaughter,
So it was pretty simple. But uh so we did
that and then I was like, you know, everyone really
liked it. They said, when's the next one coming out?
And I started. I talked to Michel and we started,
(12:47):
you know, a company together. We said maybe we should
try to do this quarterly, like do four a year
and eventually maybe do one a month. But we have
to figure out way to monetize it and make sure
because there's a lot ofduction costs and things like that.
Right now we're kind of kind of breaking even. And
that's without me getting paid for my photography because you know,
(13:08):
it's my passion. So I you know, I just wanted
to be there because for me to see all my
photos in a magazine where they're all mine on the cover,
and that's what I live for it, you know. Yeah,
so you know, you got to pay the people that
put it together and the printers and this and that.
So we decided to do a Kickstarter campaign and and
(13:32):
what we did was we just started a couple of
weeks ago and it goes to August fourteenth, and there's
different tiers, so you know, for like twenty bucks, you
can you know, you know, the reward is one magazine
or you can get four. But the third issue is
going to be David le Rowth on the cover. Oh wow. Yeah.
(13:54):
So when M three played about a month or two ago,
he was performing there and with all the art artists,
I turned issue too into the davidly Roth issue. So
it's most of the most of it inside is from
the second issue, and we did new layouts with Van
Halen and and they're my stories about me going on
(14:17):
tour with them. We're turning it more into you know,
my laminate letters that I that the management wrote to me,
you know like this, So it's kind of like a
book in a way. And ye, the way mckel designed
it was really not really cool. And and so we
did that and then we took it a step further
(14:39):
just for something different, and uh, we did something with
with rap with Adrian Stone, who is the writer for
Hip Prayer Back, in the day and she let us
use her her interview that she did with Steven, like
right before, right before they went out, like for the
(15:00):
first album, like the EP. So oh yeah, so it's
like a perspective of of where Steven's head was at
instead of something new, you know. Yeah. So then it's
starting to develop into that. So it's it's got some
fun layouts. It's like a photo shoot I did with
Leada for Faces in eighty three and there's like an
(15:20):
old interview in there too, some Q and a stuff.
So we're developing that and that's up and you can
one of the rewards on the Kickstarter is this issue.
You know, you can like, you know, put twenty bucks
down and you get this if we make it, but
you know you can also get this and something else.
There's a whole it goes up pretty high. You can
(15:42):
you can get my gallery prints at a fraction of
the costs. That's up there, and you just have to
go over to the site and see. It has our
whole story, it has all the artist a lot of artists,
you know, doing a little promo for me, which is
so it's really well done. And then uh, you know,
the Ozzy Show was coming up, so I said, we
(16:05):
still didn't have a cover picked for the fourth issue
or even a concept or anything. So uh, I said,
why don't we do make it an Ozzie issue or
Ozzy and whoever's on the bill, which is you know, Slayer, Pantera, Anthrax,
Metallica and Guns and Roses, so make it like you know.
(16:25):
So what I did was mckel designed the new cover
and that's cool. And this is the picture that's in
the museum too, by the way, this one, Oh wow, yeah,
that's great. So we have you know, Tom from Slayer
and Axel and uh we threw dine Bag in there,
you know, and Joey is in there and James and
(16:50):
Zach Wilde. So that's gonna So the front of it's
going to be, you know, photos from Ozzy, my my
story with with Ozzy, like this is my story with
so it's kind of about my story and my involvement
with Ozzy, and then with some photos and pin ups
and then on the backside, this is just a mock up,
so this is not going to be real. We might
(17:11):
make this like a collectible cover like maybe have four covers,
but on this side, which is the back cover, is
going to be a live shot of Ozzie that I
shot over the weekend and then have all the bands
that were here, you know, the new pictures be here,
so they'll kind of like meet in the middle, you know,
(17:32):
in the centerfold. They'll meet in the centerfold and there'll
be a picture of Ozzy in the centerfold, you know.
Well yeah, yeah. And so our tagline is rocked where
past is Present. So that's our concept pretty much, and
we're just trying to spread the word. You know. Thanks
for helping out and anyone that's listening just go over
(17:52):
there and check it.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Out absolutely, And when this drops, I'm going to have
the link in the description on Spotify, Apple and YouTube
and serious and all the places that we are, and
it'll be out on Instagram and all that, so everybody
should be able to find the link for the kickstarter
super easy. And I want to point out too that
on the Montes Rock CERs this year was the first
time I got to flip through rock magazine and I
(18:15):
thought it was absolutely incredible And I wanted to ask you,
because you've been doing this for so long, You've taken
so many iconic photos of so many legendary bands, how
are you picking the pictures to go into these magazines,
because you must have thousands of pictures and they're all
just amazing. And like I said, I flipped through a
couple of the magazines at this point and I'm just
(18:36):
amazed at the pictures that you picked. So how are
you doing that?
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Well, this is a lot easier than the Decade That
Rocks because the Decade that rocked, it's like I had
a story to tell. This is just like pin ups
and fun photos. So generally it's like one pin up
of the singer and a group photo. So I have
every every time someone has a birthday or anniversary or
(19:04):
someone passed away, we do social media and we post
a picture and we put a quote up from what
the artists might have said at one point. So over
the over the years, since you know, the Internet was
started cranking, that's what I started doing. So I have
a lot of those photos that are just you know,
scanned and also scanned, uh, because you have to scan them,
(19:27):
like you know. Sometimes it's rare that I have to
go back in the files because I hate digging into
those files. I have a two car garage filled with
you know, hundreds of thousands if not a million transparencies.
So I do go in there when I have to,
like when I do my books on the bands, I
have to do that, or or when we do a
lot of my photographs are licensed to documentaries, and that's
(19:53):
when I kind of dig in and start scanning, and
then you know, it's just if I had to do
everything at once, never happened. But over the you know,
last ten years, fifteen years, it's been you know, a
little build. So I have I have a nice archive,
and I have someone that works for me, Camille, who's
been with me for over thirty years. That's does my
(20:13):
business end. So I hate doing all the business and
doing all that stuff. So I luckily I have someone
that's really good and I just say I need like yeah,
Autograph is doing a like a best of record with
one of the record labels, and you know it's not
a lot, it's not a big budget, of course, you know,
(20:34):
no one has budget. They're just printing like a thousand CDs.
But they want to use my photos and they you know,
the budget wasn't there, and they were kind of embarrassed
to ask me, but they were I like that when
they asked me, they say, look, I know this is
not what you get, you know, and I understand if
you can't do it. I don't want to insult you.
(20:56):
But this is all we got, you know. And I
know that you know, and I know the guys in
Auto uh you know, three of them died unfortunately. Yeah,
but you know, I know, I know them. They're going
on the cruise and you know, I want to help them,
and also I want to see my pictures in their
CD you know. And so we work something out where
(21:16):
I'll tell you what, why don't I put them in
the Daily Roth issue Because they opened up for it
was like the first big band that they opened up for.
And uh, well, I'll do a little story in the
magazine and uh, you know that you can promote the magazine,
put it on your social media, and they and they offered,
(21:37):
the record company offered to give me a couple of
panels where I can, like, you know, talk about Autograph
a little bit and then talk about the magazine. And
since I did the picture on the cover, it's it's
interesting to the reader too, you know. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I want to stay on the davidly Roth topic though
for a minute, because you mentioned M three and we
talked about daily out a couple of times, and I
was there, and I know he gave you a shout
out too when he was up on stage, and I
thought that was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, so I was I haven't like saw David for
you know, thirty plus years since ed him and smile,
you know. When I shot that tour and I reached
out to their management about a week before the show
and I asked if I could, you know, shoot the
whole show. I don't like shooting just three songs, and
they didn't get back to me, and then I called
(22:28):
again and didn't get back to me. Then I had
Camille reach out and I said, I give up. You know,
I hate rejection, you know. So she was kind of
persistent and she got through and talked to someone and
they said, if we're interested, we'll get back to you.
And I figured, all right, I'm just gonna go. I'll
shoot three songs and that's it. So the day before
(22:52):
the show, we get a call from or I got
a call from the manager or press person someone that's
you know, liaison with David, and said, David wants you
to shoot the show, the whole show. And I was like, oh,
that's you know, I was pumped. So the first time
I saw him was I was in the pit. He
(23:13):
wasn't seeing anyone before the show. Yeah, and I went there.
There was about you know, ten photographers you know, all around.
After they old left, David spotted me and he kind
of walked over to me and he said, hey, Mark,
take my picture, bitch. And it's on video, and if
(23:37):
you go to the Kickstarter, it's only on the Kickstarter.
There's a bunch of videos I talk about that. It's
like a little story because it's David E. Wess on
the cover and the video of him doing that and
and me and the pit, you know, and then just
a slide show of photos that I shot from that show,
which I didn't post yet. I'm gonna I'm gonna post
(23:58):
them problem right when his tour starts in a couple
of weeks. So I'm tying it together. So it's really
you can really only see that on the Kickstarter, so
you have to kind of you scroll down, learn about it,
you know, make a donation or do it rewards and
watch the video. It's a fun video.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Excellent that Yeah, that's that's a funny moment, but very cool,
very cool So the next thing I want to get
into here is just aside from you know, rock to
aside from a decade that rock just in general.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
If you had to.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Pick just a couple favorite photo shoots over the years,
who comes to mind first?
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Uh, that's a couple. Well, my favorite is this twis
his sister stay Hungry, just because it was a game
changer for me. It was my first album cover I
ever did, and it was a pretty intense, you know
situation where I had to build this you know, I
hire people to build this room that looked like what
(25:02):
the room looked like. You know, I got I got
you know, fake mice I got and at the end,
I went to the deli and I got this bone
and that's the bone that made made made the photo.
And uh, you know, just like my first photo on
Circus magazine that was on the cover, it was like wow,
and it was like, you know, it was on the
(25:24):
stand for a month. But with record covers, they're there forever.
You know, they take different forms, you know, you know
cassettes and CDs, eight tracks back even before cassettes and
then CDs and then out and then uh now it's
digital streaming. So when I'm listening to Ossie's Boneyard or
(25:45):
hair Nation, like I remember one time, and you know,
the picture comes out and it's really clear, you know,
it's like digital. You know, it pops right at you
and you know you're driving. You're hearing doc and you know,
a song from under Lock and Key, and they're there's
my album cover, you know. And then I'm driving, still driving,
you know, I'm looking at it and go, wow, cool
(26:05):
man forty years ago. Now I'm looking and I'm driving.
Then all of a sudden, I hear night Songs from
Cinderella and you know, there's my cover. You know, I'm driving,
and then all of a sudden they play something from
Slippery When Wet, you know, my cover and again, and
I go. Then I go to Ozzie's Boneyard and I'm listening.
(26:28):
As soon as I turned it over there there was
the last Command by Wasp and then it led into Anthrax.
I'm the man I did that cover too, So it's
kind of like a trip, you know, seeing my photos
and now it's streaming and who knows what's going to
happen in the future, I'm sure. Yeah, we always say,
like what else can there be? But there ends up
(26:50):
being something.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Right right, And I wanted to stop you there when
you said night Songs, because god, I like that album
cover growing up was like my favorite thing ever. So
you know, you as like a young rock fan and
you're like reading all the liner notes and learning all
the things about your favorite bands. Like the first time
I talked to you, that was like in the back
of my head, like, oh my god. I used to
stare at that album cover all night long and listen
(27:14):
to that thing, and now here we are having a
conversation about it. So it's kind of a trip for me.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And it's it's funny. It's like, you know, back then,
you know, the clothes started getting more and more outrageous,
you know, MTV and everything. Everyone was trying to outdo
each other. And you know, I remember when DOCN came
in with their outfits and they call it their waiter outfits.
Each one had their own color, you know, yeah, and red, purple,
(27:43):
green and orange or something, and I saw them and
I was like, okay, you know, I thought it was
a little much, and you know they did too, but
that's what they had. You know, I think it was
the first time they actually saw it. Like and they
put them on and it was really tight and uncomfortable
for him, but you know they made the best of it.
That was eighty five is when like glam metal was
(28:07):
at its hot highest, you know, the highest hair you know, poison.
That's when uh, Motley Crue, the Theater of Pain they did,
you know, they were doing the same thing. Uh so
you know when Docin did that. You know, we look
at it today and we kind of they're still blaming
before it, you know, but now, but it was really
(28:29):
like like they were like superheroes to like kids like
you back then, if you were like ten or eleven,
you look at him like, you know, wow, you know,
who are these guys? You know, like it's just characters. Yeah, absolutely,
and that's what that's what sold it. And and because
of the image and everything and MTV and photography and
all the magazines and the pin ups, like the eighties
(28:53):
that decade is really like that's why these bands and
the manst rock crews are doing so good because these
bands have an image and they're kind of sticking to
them a little bit, you know. I mean they don't
have they're not as glammy, but uh, you know, they
still the same attitude. Yeah, and they're not they're not
growing old like a lot of the other bands are.
(29:14):
And they're not you know, like the nineties bands or
they're not there. They have a tendency to more grow
old and grow beards and stuff now and you know,
be comfortable. But we still want to look good and
feel good. So it's I kind of lucked out for
that decade, you know, as to being in a rock photographer,
So I'm fortunate than that.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Yeah, and you were a huge part of all of
that and that whole movement, and I think it's really
incredible that we're still getting the magazine and the books
and and all of these things that you have going on.
Before I get you out of here, we're going to
just do a little little fun section that we do
with all of our guests now, which is just a
Lightning Round And it's just like at this or that
round of questions, just for our listeners to hear some
(29:54):
different stuff and get to know you on a different level.
So first lightning round question is going to be the
Chicago or New York style pizza.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
H New York, because I haven't had Chicago.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
All right, fair enough, how about dinner or dessert dinner?
Are we going chocolate or vanilla?
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Vanilla? Definitely?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
How about poison or Motley Crue, Motley, Ozzy or Alice?
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Hey, I mean Ozzy, but I love Alice.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
You know, no matter who people pick, when I say
that one, they always go this guy. But I love
that one too, and every every time, every time. How
about favorite movie?
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Uh, spinal Top? All right, favorite TV show? Let's see
the odd couple. Believe it or not?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
The great choice? Great choice. Here's a superstitious question for you.
Let's say you believe in you know all these crazy
things that happen in the Bermuda Triangle and your you
have to go through it. Are you taking a boat?
Are you taking a plane?
Speaker 1 (30:59):
And why? Well, the boat because you know at least
you're not you're you're grounded. I mean, you might get
sucked into the water. But the plane, you know, what
are you gonna do? Just disappear or go into the water,
so it might be a safer bed if you're you're
already on the water, right chance of survival. I always
(31:21):
got freaked out by that, by the way, when I
was a kid, I remember in the seventies, you know
it was like really happening, you know, I don't know.
Does it still happen?
Speaker 2 (31:32):
They say it does, and I'm amazed by it, which
is why I throw that question in there, because I
have a lot of paranormal and horror movie guests on
the show, so that question has got to be a
staple because it's it's still freaks me out. I watched
documentaries about it and it's just amazing. Yeah, Now, are
you a horror movie fan?
Speaker 1 (31:48):
No, absolutely not. I don't like it. I don't like Gore. Yeah,
I like, I like mysteries and like I started watching Dexter.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Oh yeah, we started that recently too.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Yeah, and I like his character, you know, but then
he's just started going on too much of a killing spree,
you know. And also I love I love the series,
you but then it just started getting a little crazy,
you know. And it's I still like it, it's just
and it's pretty much, you know, pretty pretty intense when
(32:22):
it comes to that. So I if it's got a
good I don't like, like, slice your head off and
the head falls off and the blood gushes off, even
if it's fake, I can't. I gotta look away.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
All right, fair enough, So my question now to bring
everything back around, is do you know where your next
appearance is going to be where you're going to have
rock magazine or a decade that Racked or anything like
that as that set up already.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna be at hair Fest in Boston
on Uh it's coming up. So your listeners, if you're
in the area, it's going to be on the nineteenth.
Oh wow, thank you August and Eddie Trunk's going to
be home hosting it. I did it last year or
another year before, and I had my books there and
my magazines and they have like it's a tribute band concert,
(33:09):
so you have like a like an Aussie tribute def
lepperd I think Poison maybe, and uh it you know,
brings a couple of thousand people people there. It's pretty
pretty good, good, good concert, excellent.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
So before we wrap it up, just uh, let's let
the listeners know where they could follow you for more
appearances and for links and for the magazine and for
the book and all of that. So what's your social
media so that people who don't already follow you could start.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, just go to mark weist dot com. That's my
that's my website. Markwis dot com. You could you pretty
much go anywhere with that. But also you can go
to for a rock magazine. We have a really killer
website that we just started and it's That's Rock mag
r O C K E, D M A G. And
that's all my social text too, So really trying to
(34:00):
bump that up. So anyone out there like it, you know,
really go, you know, try to help us out, share it,
tell your friends, because we want to make this magazine,
you know, at least four a year, and it's going
to have really cool content. I just posted something just
about it before I came on here of Rudy when
(34:22):
I got there. So I interview people, you know, I
bump into friends, you know, tell me how you're feeling,
what are we doing today. So gave me a really
nice interview talking about when he met Ozzie for the
first time. So I always like to say, you know,
give me something from the past and then give me
something from the present. Something want to promote something. So
it's kind of a simple concept, you know, it's an
(34:43):
easy one. I'm not a journalist, so I don't I'm
not a guy that can ask questions, but I can
ask you know, simple questions, tell me something from the past,
you know, from the from the present, and it seems
to work. And I just get short little answers and
you know, and then I post them and get a
(35:04):
little attention. So right now that's on there. And another
thing I did, I just started posting a lot of
my footage of crowds. I love crowds. I love talking
to them. I love watching them headbang and the reaction
because anyone could go on YouTube and see the performers,
you know, like Ozzy, like everyone's shooting them. But for me,
(35:27):
the real fun for me is to look at the
crowd and to see their expressions and how they're feeding off,
like Ozzy and Tony and Geezer and Bill. So this
show was only a half hour, so I couldn't do
it a lot. During that, my girlfriend Mickel was doing
some Body and stuff, so we started posting it in
(35:49):
between the bands because there was a revolving stage this weekend.
So I literally the first three or four bands, like Mastadon, Anthrax,
Rival Sons, they only have fifteen minutes three songs and
then then it would turn so I had like five
minutes to like, you know, get some interviews and then
(36:09):
shoot again, and then it turned into a half hour
when Slayer went on and Tool and you know, Guns
and Roses did a half hour, so and then there
was a supergroup with Sammy Hager and Steven Tyler and
Jake Lee and Rudy Sarzo and Tom Morello and Nuno Bettencourt.
(36:29):
I mean, it was just amazing. So I just started
posting some things like that, so, you know, just fun stuff.
Like when I got to the airport, I bumped into
Bobby Blitz from Overkill and he had he had a
I thought it was a Black Savager down but it
said it said black Heart. And I asked him, I said,
(36:51):
you know you're going to the show. He was going
to Switzerland or somewhere for a show, and that was
his friend's restaurant, but he felt like wearing it because
of the Black Sabbath weekend. And then we just started
talking and I said, you know, tell me something from
the past, and he teld me a great story where
before Overkill even started, or right when they started, he
(37:13):
was they were asked to be in Barking the Moon
and extras or something, and he had a funny story.
You got to go to my site, to our Instagram
or Facebook and you'll see the interview I did with Bobby.
So just you know, I just very casual. I filmed
with my phone and I just have you know, small
little conversations and you know, and they, you know, they
(37:36):
take off one of my videos of the crowd hit
like forty five thousand views, Like so who knows why,
you know what I mean, some had ten, some ait
five and you know, but so we're gonna be posting that.
I'm gonna be posting me at the museum, you know,
looking at my photographs and showing the museum and then
(38:01):
uh me taking pictures and backstage and all sorts of stuff. Amazing.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
And before the very last question is just you know,
being at back to the beginning and such a monumental moment,
what would you say was your absolute favorite part of
being there?
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Uh? Honestly, probably when it was over. It was a
long day, right, I mean I had to jump up
on the platform. If you if you watch it on
if anyone watches in the live stream, you'll see the
guy on the on the stage right, you know, if
you're looking at the stage on the left, and I'm
like the tallest guy on it. But that's where the
cameras are, the video cameras. But I was like right
(38:43):
next to it. Because it's such a high stage, it's
really hard to shoot. Most of the time I was
up there, but then I would get I would have
to get another shot on the other side, you know,
get a clean shot of Tony. So I would you know,
have to jump down and then go around and then
go back up. So my at the time, you don't
feel it, you know, it's like when you work out,
you don't feel it. But like after eight straight hours
(39:06):
of doing that, my legs just came back like this morning.
Oh I bet, I bet, But this is the this
is the past that I had. Oh that's great, you know,
and I'll be saving this of course. Yeah. Absolutely, my
wall of shame behind me, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
I mean, that's great stuff.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
I was trying to look behind you earlier.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
But so for anybody listening to this right now, the
kickstarter is live. You can contribute to Rocked magazine and
it's going to be in the description of this show
no matter where you're listening to it, So check the
description and make sure you're following Mark on either his website,
or Instagram or wherever you can. And man, thanks for
being here. I really appreciate you doing this.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Oh thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
All right, rockers Once again, Mark Weiss, make sure you
are following him on Instagram, check out his website, donate
to his Kickstarter for Rocked magazine, and make sure you
get rocked and we will see you next time on
the All Bets Are Off Podcast. The preceding presentation has
(40:33):
been brought to you by the Gear Network.
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