The health issues I have to deal with are primarily from stress. It’s a taxing thing to be the guy who has to keep shit together. They don’t know what causes my autoimmune disorder. The condition I have is ulcerated colitis, which means your immune system attacks itself, and it manifests itself in the intestines and the joints. My ankles swell up, all kinds of weird shit. Colitis attacks just your intestines; Crohn’s Disease, which I also was recently diagnosed with on top of everything else, is from your esophagus to colon, that’s the only difference. It’s all inflammation. Anxiety and stress are the main triggers. Today I feel things are pretty stable, and my stress levels are down.
By 2018 we needed a break because we had been going at it hard for the last four or five years, but then we were going to take six months off. The new record was recorded and was being mixed, and we’d been banging the shit out while touring the last three years with Def Leppard. Phil Collen said, “Let’s get the fuck out there and make some hay.” That was his whole thing; he became our guru. There’s not a lot of bands left like us; let’s go out there and get all the fans. Instead of run down and fuck one, let’s walk down and fuck ’em all, so that’s what we’re doing.