You’ll be touring with Exodus for the first time since 1989, when you did the Headbanger’s Ball tour with them and Helloween. Do you have any memories of that tour? 

Oh yeah. That was great. I like those guys a lot. I love Gary. He’s doing the Slayer thing, and he also did one of those Metal Masters shows with us that we had a great time doing. He’s a great guitar player and a great guy.

Are you familiar with any of the other bands on the tour?

Yeah, I’m familiar with Municipal Waste. It’ll be cool to see some of these bands.

What are you listening to these days?

I’ve been listening to these two Ghost songs that have popped up on the internet. I love that band, and I think they’re really good, and I can’t wait to hear the new record. This is the opposite of that, but I’ve also been listening to the 35th anniversary edition of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, which is one of my all time favorite records.

What are your thoughts on being nominated for a Grammy for a fourth time?

To some, it may come as a ‘yeah, I got nominated for a Grammy, I really don’t care,’ kind of thing. I actually really do care about the Grammys, because it’s being recognized for your art. And it came as a total surprise to us, which was even better. We weren’t sitting around waiting to be nominated, and it was a complete shock. The amount of hard work and emotion that went into making the record, I feel that being recognized for our art is amazing. I can’t say what the other bands put into their records, but I know what we put into ours, and it took a while for a reason. I’m really excited about it, and I hope it goes our way.

I know this is way premature, but are there any thoughts on a  follow up to Worship Music?

Yeah, well, we talked about of course not waiting to long to do the next one. We’re looking for some time this year to get in and start working on it.