Richie Faulkner has penned the new song “Rupture” addressing the 2021 aortic rupture that threatened his life and during a chat with Full Metal Jackie, the Elegant Weapons leader shared band that partially influenced his writing on the track.

While appearing on Full Metal Jackie’s weekend radio show, the guitarist shared his desire to get back into action after the surgery that saved his life. As he began his recovery, he came up with a guitar part for a potential song and that’s when he got a call from Adam Jones of Tool. But almost immediately after he said yes, he realized he needed to learn how play the suggested song before taking part and he drove everyone mad trying to learn it. And apparently that experience carried over into continuing the music he was creating.

“So I was listening to Tool and it kind of inspired the riff. And I could hear like a heartbeat through it. It was like a rhythm through it. And I didn’t wanna make it about me, but there was definitely a reference there,” said Faulkner of the song “Rupture.” “I could hear someone going through some sort of turmoil on a hospital bed with machines around them and tubes tied to them. I could hear the turmoil but I could also kind of hear hope in the song as well. So I made it kind of tumultuous and hopeful at the same time.”

Elsewhere in the discussion, Faulkner explains why Evolution is truly a fitting name for his band’s sophomore set. He discusses the working relationship with singer Ronnie Romero and how the band’s sound is coming together.

Richie also shares his thoughts on The Ballad of Judas Priest documentary and names his favorite Judas Priest song to play live.

Check out more of the chat below.

It’s Full Metal Jackie this week. Very excited to welcome guitarist extraordinaire Richie Faulkner to the show as we dig into the new Elegant Weapons album, Evolution. That seems like a fitting title for the record, given how things have progressed. Can you speak to now having a chance to write an album with all the elements in place and what having the input of Ronnie Romero and other bandmates had on making this record?

Absolutely. I’m grateful to be writing another record and putting another record out. I think these days the fact that there’s so many things for people to do, so many distractions. The fact that there’s enough interest that we can put another album out, we’re incredibly grateful. And I’m grateful also to be in a band with those guys.

Davey, Christopher, Ronnie … they make me sound better. You know what I mean? So surrounding yourself with people like that, not only good friends, but great musicians. And they’ve all had a part to play in it, really.

We recorded the drum tracks before the first record came out. So me, Davey, and Christopher got together in Nashville, recorded the drums together as a unit. So we played the songs together. And I think you get that cohesive spontaneity. If someone does something, if Davey plays something or if I play something on the guitar, Christopher picks up on that and matches it on the drums and vice versa, you know?

So you get like a cohesive thing, which is in itself an evolution over the first record. We didn’t do it like that the first time around. And from a vocal point of view as well, same thing with Ronnie. Andy Sneap produced this record again and he wanted to do something more with the vocals than we did on the first record.

First record, there was another singer that had already sang the vocals. So we gave them to Ronnie and basically said, “This is the vocals,” and he sang them like he does. But this one we produced him, so, albeit in different places.

WATCH MORE: Richie Faulkner Plays His Favorite Riffs

So Ronnie was at home in his studio. Sneap was in the U.K. and I was in Nashville. And we got on a Zoom call like this. And from the ground up, we had the lyrics and the melodies, but from the ground up we kind of said, “Let’s try this vocal. Let’s try this variant. Let’s try this technique. Get up closer to the mic.” And Sneap was always cracking the whip, getting the best performance out of him and getting the best vocal performance we could get. So from that point of view, from a recording point of view, the whole thing was an evolution in terms of how we recorded it.

So the band was Scott Travis, Rex Brown, me, myself, and Ronnie on the first recording. Then we took it out on the road and I got Christopher and Davey in. So that’s an evolution in itself. And we felt the songs were an evolution too in terms of what we were putting down on this record.

So it was appropriate really to call it that and we’re sticking to it.

Elegant Weapons, “Bridges Burn”

Richie, let’s talk about “Bridges Burn.” It’s a rare song about taking accountability and dealing with the consequences of a bad decision. And let’s be honest, nobody lives a perfect life and it’d be a little boring if you did. What is one of the greatest lessons you learned from taking a wrong turn in your own life?

Oh, wow. There’s loads of them. I mean, bloody hell. There’s usually like some sort of alcoholic influence. You know what I mean? I hardly drink anymore. And I do like a drink, but I usually get myself into some silly scrapes. So there’s been a ton of those which would be too long to mention.

But those sort of things where you think it’s a good idea at the time and then wake up. We’ve all been there. Wake up the morning after and think, “Did I actually say that? Did I actually do that?” And then you realize, “Oh, if I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t have done that.” So you know what I mean? Then you kind of curb it a bit. But we’ve all been there. We all kind of know what I’m talking about, those sort of things.

But that’s being human though, isn’t it? We all have to go through things to realize that’s not the best thing to do sometimes.

Richie, you’ve received a lot of credit for Judas Priest’s resurgence in the past decade plus. You’ve ventured out now with Elegant Weapons as well, showcasing more of your creative side. But it’s a continual evolution, so to speak. Where do you feel you’ve made the greatest strides in your own career over the past two decades or so? Is it as a player or as a songwriter? And what steps do you take to continue evolving creatively?

It’s a great question. It’s hard to say really. I think it’s for listeners to judge. But I’d like to think with an education and teachers like Priest; it’s all about their uniqueness—their unique qualities as players and as a unit is why they are who they are.

The way Glenn plays guitar; his songwriting is so unique—and coming from a covers background where I used to play different styles by lots of different artists—I didn’t really have my own voice.

So it’s all about taking those lessons on—like Glenn’s uniqueness along with Rob’s Scott’s Ian’s Ken’s—and all previous members of Priest—what am I gonna say? What’s gonna be my fingerprint on guitar? What’s gonna be my way of writing songs? And I don’t think it ever ends; you’re always trying to write better songs or better riffs or better lyrics.

I think that’s what it is—if people can hear that in my work with Elegant Weapons or Priest then I’m really grateful—but hopefully I’ve got my own voice in there somewhere; as I’ve said before—I don’t think that journey ever ends.

I think Ronnie will say this as well; there’s more Ronnie Romero on this record than there was on the first one so that’s great!