Old school Thrashers Sacred Reich, 10 years on from their demise, return with a European tour, culminating in their appearance at Wacken 2007. With the re-release of their now classic "Ignorance" and "Surf Nicaragua" albums, does this spell the rise of a second coming? Only Phil Rind could answer this question!

There were never any real “issues”. It was just time to move on. We had made some records, toured around the world, and as a group I feel like we had run our course.

We were getting together to work on the re-issue of ignorance and Surf Nicaragua, and it was fun just to hang out and do some Sacred Reich related stuff. One thing led to another and we thought it would be fun to do some shows. To our surprise a few promoters agreed and the rest as they say….

As long as we’re all still around I don’t see why we wouldn’t do it together. After Dave joined Machine Head we were jamming with Greg again before we called it a day. So it only makes sense that we should do it together.

Just going about our everyday lives. Raising families, working. Wiley has been jamming in a band called The Human Condition. Greg has jammed with the North Side Kings and a few other projects. Just keeping busy.

Is the plan to split once the band have fulfilled your commitments in Europe and the two US shows? No plans for any new material?

There are no plans for anything other than the re-release and the shows you mentioned. We are just getting together to have some fun and celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the release of our first record "Ignorance".

Have you guys still got commitments to Metal Blade if you do decide to release anything new?

It looks like Ignorance and Surf Nicaragua will be re-released mid 2007. Is there any plan to remaster / repackage the albums?

It should be out in May or June with bonus tracks and a DVD. It will include new cover art by Paul Stottler our long time artist. It will be something very cool.

What of the remainder of the Sacred Reich back catalogue, will this see the light of day any time soon?

We’ll see. It’s kind of a record company mess, but it is being worked on. The whole idea of re-releasing the stuff is for the fans. If someone is interested in getting the music whether they are an old fan who wore out their cassette, or a young kid just hearing us for the first time, it should be available for a reasonable price. I don’t like the idea of fans getting taken advantage of on e-bay.

How excited are you guys to be playing the Wacken Open Air Festival? How did the dates / tour come about?

It will be very fun to play a really big show. When we were thinking about doing some shows Metal Blade gave me some people to contact. The Wacken folks were very cool and set up the other shows as well. We were very fortunate that it all went rather quickly.

Everything is going great! Just shaking off some rust. I think we know what people want to hear, so it shouldn’t be that difficult. We will probably lean on the records we did with Greg pretty hard.

Now many of you have families and other sort of other work commitments, how difficult are you finding juggling everything at the moment?

It will be fine. We are not going to be gone for very long by design. It is important that we approach this thing the right way. To get together with some friends and have a good time. We will be catching up with old friends along the way at shows and such, and the whole thing should be a good time.

Being part of the old school yourself, what is your take on all the bands from back in the day re-emerging? Do you think it signals a lack of credible new music?

I don’t know. I don’t necessarily think one has anything to do with the other. I’m sure every band that is getting back together has their own reasons for doing so. I’m the wrong guy to ask about new metal. Even my kids listen to old music.

No. There’s no legacy or any other bullshit surrounding this band. There’s no way we will be the same as we were twenty or even ten years ago. That’s the nature of our lives, they change. So if people come to the gigs and have a good time that’s the goal. If they come and remember how they felt when they first heard the music, then that’s great too. If they come and think we’re a bunch of old farts who should have stayed home…well they should go fuck themselves! Shit it’s our band and we’ll do what we want.

The bands cross over roots fused with the Thrash elements made Sacred Reich stand out from the crowd. Do you feel your message remains as valid today as it did a decade ago?

Sure the more things change the more they stay the same, politically at least. The thing we were about was paying attention to what’s going on, and doing your own thing.

Sacred Reich was famed for their political and social commentary through your music. What is your take on the Government within the US today?

You know after living through Reagan/Bush 1 I didn’t think it could get any worse. I mean Iran/Contra, deficit spending, the arms race, Iraq pt. 1, the savings and loan collapses. But I was wrong. I completely underestimated the level of stupidity, callousness, corruption, and total incompetence of the current Bush administration. These crooks should be in jail for stealing elections. They should be prosecuted for leaving a great American city like New Orleans to suffer while we spend BILLIONS of dollars in Iraq on a war we had no business starting. Don’t even get me started on Iraq, and Bush’s “War on Terror” what a crock of shit. I could go on for days but I won’t. I’m looking forward to 2008.

Legions? We attack at dawn! No seriously. We hope to see you at the shows, it will be a blast! The re-release will be a cool thing. We did a cover of “Rapid Fire” by Judas Priest with Rob Halford singing. That was awesome! The DVD will have some cool shit too. It will have the 1989 Dynamo show which is one of the most memorable gigs we’ve done. So keep an eye out for it. Like I said if you want to see the band this is your opportunity. Thanks and we’ll see you in July!