SWEET SAVAGE's RAY HALLER: 'I Owe So Much To METALLICA' For Covering 'Killing Time'

In a new interview with Spain's Made In Metal, bassist and vocalist Ray Haller of Belfast metal pioneers SWEET SAVAGE spoke about how his band gained wide recognition after METALLICA covered their track "Killing Time" — co-written by SWEET SAVAGE co-founder and future DIO/DEF LEPPARD guitarist Vivian Campbell — and released it as the B-side of METALLICA's multi-platinum single "The Unforgiven". Ray said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I speak very openly and honestly. I know where SWEET SAVAGE is and I know our place. SWEET SAVAGE was near enough gone [before METALLICA recorded our song]. I mean, the gigs were getting less, they were getting smaller, the tours were getting shorter, the money was getting less. And then METALLICA brought out 'Killing Time'. They asked our permission to do it, and they put out 'Killing Time', and all of a sudden it was like, whoa. The tours got bigger, the festivals got bigger, the money got more. That had a massive [impact]. It allowed us to go and record a record, the fact that METALLICA did that one song. And then with agents and promoters, [they approached us], 'Hi, would you like to come and do a show?' 'Would you like to do a festival?' 'Would you like to do this?' That's all because of METALLICA. If that hadn't happened, if METALLICA hadn't recorded 'Killing Time', you and I wouldn't be having this conversation. I owe so much to METALLICA for taking that one song. And to this day, when they come to town, they give me a call. 'Do you wanna come to the show?' So I go down and I see them. All being well, I'm gonna see them next year."

Haller added: "So, I can't thank METALLICA enough. I don't think they'll ever take another song, but they've really helped SWEET SAVAGE out so much by that one song."

Ray also reflected on SWEET SAVAGE's early days while Vivian was still a member of the band and before Campbell got an offer to join DIO. He said: "Well, Viv and I go back a long way, to school days. And working with Viv was great. We were beneficial to each other, because when Viv and I formed the band, the band was just a covers band. We were just playing DEEP PURPLE covers, BLACK SABBATH, THIN LIZZY, LED ZEPPELIN — we were just a covers band, and we decided we would write a song. So the two of us wrote a song, along with the other guy who was in the band with us, [founding SWEET SAVAGE guitarist] Trevor Fleming, who's now since passed. Trevor died. So we just started out like every other bunch of kids playing our heroes' songs. So we had a good influence on each other."

Ray continued: "It was great to work with [Vivian] because he's an exceptional guitar player as well and he did have a big impact on the band. But I like to feel as if I had a good impact on Viv, because my philosophy was we are as good as anyone. We can write a song. Our songs can be as good as anybody's. So it was my idea that we have a go with writing our own material, and Trevor, Viv and myself wrote the songs. And I think we all gave each other confidence. Viv gave me confidence 'cause he was a brilliant musician. He gave me confidence that I was good enough to play with him. I gave him confidence that his riffs were as good as DEEP PURPLE's or THIN LIZZY's. So we all gave each other confidence. I mean, it was a brilliant band. It was just unfortunate that it was in Northern Ireland in the height of our conflict. And we couldn't get a record deal. We couldn't get record companies to come and look at us because they were frightened. On the news, there's car bombs, there's shootings, there's killings… The biggest and best hotel in the city where the record companies would've came to stay, if they had to come, was the most bombed hotel in the world. So nobody would come. We couldn't get anyone to look at us, to listen to us. We didn't have the money. I had to borrow the money off my parents for my share of the first demo. Viv had to do the same. Trevor had to do the same, and Dave [David Bates], the drummer, had to… We had all to go to our parents and borrow money to go and do a four-song demo. The record labels were very interested in the band. They always wanted to hear more material. We couldn't afford to do it. We couldn't get them to come to us, and we couldn't afford to… There was only two recording studios in Northern Ireland, and we couldn't afford to go in. We knew we were a good band and we were a great influence on each other."

Speaking about his current relationship with Campbell, Haller said: "I'd seen Viv on Monday. He's just flown back to the States. So Viv was over here in Belfast for a week. So I'd seen Viv. I spoke to Viv yesterday. He's back home. I'll be speaking to Viv over the weekend. I've been speaking to Viv at least once, twice a month since he left SWEET SAVAGE back in the '80s, his whole time through DIO, WHITESNAKE and in DEF LEPPARD. We're still very, very, very close friends. So we were all a good influence on each other. And it didn't surprise me that Viv got asked to join DIO. He was such a brilliant guitar player. If we'd have got a record deal, he wouldn't have joined DIO. We'd have been well on the way to do our own thing, but, unfortunately, we didn't get the opportunity."

SWEET SAVAGE released a new album, "Bang", in September through earMUSIC.

Formed in Belfast in 1979 by Haller and Campbell, SWEET SAVAGE was part of the first wave of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. But unlike their peers, SWEET SAVAGE never released a full album during their first run. Instead, they became underground legends, gaining wide recognition after METALLICA covered "Killing Time".

On "Bang", Haller is backed by longtime drummer Marty McCloskey and guitar force Phil Edgar. The album features guitar work by former band member Simon McBride, who toured and recorded with the band before launching his solo career and joining DEEP PURPLE.

METALLICA frontman James Hetfield joined SWEET SAVAGE on stage at an August 20, 2008 concert at Marlay Park in Dublin, Ireland (where SWEET SAVAGE supported METALLICA) to perform "Killing Time".

Campbell was a member of SWEET SAVAGE from 1979 until 1982, when he joined DIO.

Vivian joined SWEET SAVAGE on stage for the first time in 30 years when the band supported THIN LIZZY in February 2011 in Belfast and Dublin to perform the classic track "Killing Time".

In a 2018 interview with Riccardo Ball of "The Metal Bar", Campbell stated about METALLICA covering "Killing Time" as the B-side to "The Unforgiven" single (the song was also included on METALLICA's "Garage Inc." covers album): "Yeah, that was incredibly flattering when that happened. I do think that there were very, very strong similarities between SWEET SAVAGE and METALLICA. I formed SWEET SAVAGE with a friend of mine who's, unfortunately, long since passed away — Trevor Fleming — back when I was 15. And we were in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the '70s, and it was a very tough environment, but we kind of put our heads down and got into music. And we sound a lot like METALLICA, so in a lot of ways, I'm really not that surprised. But it was tremendous for them to do that. It's funny when you're 15 or 16 years of age and you write a riff and you get together with your mates and it becomes a song, and then, 25 years later, you get a royalty check for it. It's funny how life works sometimes."

Photo: Mark Hylands (courtesy of earMUSIC)