STRYPER's MICHAEL SWEET Finds 'Ridiculous, Cliché Comments' On BLABBERMOUTH.NET 'Sad' And 'Pathetic'

STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet was recently interviewed by "Totally Driven Radio", the weekly radio podcast hosted by Bay Ragni, Nick Wilkinson and Jimmy Jannetty. You can now listen to the chat below.

Asked if the drama surrounding bassist Tim Gaines's recent departure from STRYPER affected other aspects of his life outside the band, Sweet said: "Well, sure, because we're so involved in the band. It's not just a weekend-warrior kind of thing; it's a daily, year-round thing. And my wife manages the band and helps with coordinating everything and budgets and whatnot, so she's in it just as much as I am. So, yeah, absolutely.

"The only way I can put it, when you're dealing with drama, we all know how that goes in our own personal lives," he continued. "'Cause we all face drama and deal with drama, and it's never fun. We want it to be a drama-free life and drama-free world, but that's not reality. But when you're in it thick and thin and you're dealing with it, it sometimes just outright sucks, and there's not much you can do other than to just grin and get through it and smile big and know that there's hope coming around the corner."

Sweet also talked about the comment section on BLABBERMOUTH.NET and the sometimes-unflattering viewpoints that are expressed on this site by the people reading it.

"Yeah, it's funny about Blabbermouth. I guess you've gotta have stuff like that," Sweet said. "Blabbermouth reminds me of the TMZ… It's the TMZ of heavy metal. It's all just… You can believe it if you want, if that's your life, and then you live for that, and you don't just live for reading the comments and the headlines but you actually believe it. Or, if you don't believe it, your goal is to just go on there, in your mommy's basement on your computer that mommy bought you and make all these ridiculous, cliché comments about everything they post.

"I find myself going [on] Blabbermouth and reading stuff and just shaking my head thinking, 'This is sad.' It really is; it's pretty pathetic," he said. "But, you know, hey, if you've got legitimate sources, you've gotta have those kind of smut sources too, and that's just the way it works."

STRYPER recently finished recording all the basic tracks for its new album for an early 2018 release. The follow-up to 2015's "Fallen" will be the band's first disc since the addition of former FIREHOUSE bassist Perry Richardson. Perry joined the band as the replacement for Gaines, who was fired from the group earlier this year.