Jimmy Kay from Canada's The Metal Voice recently spoke to NWOBHM singer Steve Grimmett of Steve Grimmett's Grim Reaper. Grimmett spoke about the late producer Chris Tsangarides and how he was scheduled to mix the bands new album, His one year anniversary on Jan 17 of his tragic leg loss and the gory details of the operations, plus details about Grim Reaper'a New album and a potential book.
WATCH THE INTERVIEW HERE
When asked about his relationship with the late producer Chris Tsangarides (1:26)
"I have known about Chris for a really long time. We started getting in touch in 2016 and we got on really well. I talked to him about mixing the next Reaper album and I was really looking forward to it cause he was going to teach me all he knew about mixing in the process and it's a real dam shame it didn't happen. " "When I had lost my leg Chris got in touch with me at least once a week for the rest of 2017 and he was such a nice guy he wasn't interested in how the music was going or anything else all he wanted to know was how I was doing. I did the same thing for him because he had some problems before he died and I stayed in touch and made sure he was ok. Then to hear that he had passed away suddenly it was absolutely gutting. When I think about it or see his pictures it really gets to me. We lost a lot of good friends over the past few years but I think Chris has affected me more than anybody else. As far as I'm concerned we lost one of the biggest rock influences that there will ever be." When how far ahead were they in making the new Grim Reaper album with Chris Tsangarides mixing ( 4:04)
"The deal was done. Chis was going to mix it, it was suppose to be in October 2017 but I had to put it off because we were building a new recording studio and everything was put on the back burner, what a dam shame ." When asked about the timeline of the new Grim Reaper album (4;52) We have gotten 7 or 9 songs written, basically we want to write 16 or 17 songs to then come out with 12 songs which would give us an extra track for Japan. I would like to maybe start recording in March 2018, it will probably take three months to finish after that and then the record company will get on to release it in 2018. (summer) When asked about the experience of losing his leg in the hospital in Ecuador one year ago Jan 17 (7:46) "When I was in the hospital I had absolutely no one there to speak to I couldn't even contact Millie my wife because when I went in the hospital they took my phone from me because the hospital told them not it have it on me because it would be stolen. I couldn't even talk to my wife about having these operations. The guys and the promoters disappeared after 5 days, so I had nobody to talk to it was awful but I had to dig in and find that inner strength. " "I had three operations, five altogether but three of them were under epidural, which numbs the body below. For the first two operations they were sawing my leg off and I could hear them cutting through the bone. Then I got the Flesh Eating Disease that's when they had to cut me above knee (Femur) which is a real BIG bone, they got the saw stuck in it twice cause it was all hand saw. There was nothing modern about the techniques in Ecuador. I did not want to watch it. When they actually cut through the Femur I could actually feel that vibration and I said to myself now you gotta dig deep inner strength. I was thinking about all the veterans that came home with their legs blown to bits and who am I to sit and cry about it ? "
