“The term Bang Your Head actually came from Randy Rhoads.“
— Carlos Cavazo

“I don’t know what they did with their money, but I got money. I don’t have to work anymore, I can retire right now.”
— Carlos Cavazo

Metal Sludge — In a brand new video interview former Quiet Riot guitarist Carlos Cavazo talks in depth about some of his history in heavy metal with The Metal Voice podcast.

Cavazo as most know was a classic era member of Quiet Riot when the band rose to #1 with their U.S. debut album “Metal Health.”

Many years later Cavazo was part of Ratt (2008–2014 2016–2018) and in addition to years playing live shows he also contributed to their “Infestation” release from 2010.

The most recent news is that Cavazo is now involved with a new King Kobra release with founder and drummer Carmine Appice.

Cavazo along with guitarist Rowan Robertson are both listed as new members as of 2023 on Wikipedia.

We have grabbed a bunch of one-liners from Cavazo from this recent interview and shared them below.

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The following has all been transcribed by Metal Sludge.

Carlos Cavazo on Quiet Riot:

“We hit the 40 year milestone, a couple months ago. The “Metal Health” album was released in March of ’83, that was 40 years ago (this) last March… it’s still out there making noise I guess, I never would have thought it would last that long.”

“I don’t know what they did with their money, but I got money. I don’t have to work anymore, I can retire right now…you know, but I don’t know what they did with their money, there was money, we got paid, of course. Everybody’s got, different things with their money.”

“Spencer (Proffer) was a good producer… he wasn’t a metal producer, I don’t think he ever produced any metal bands until us… and you know, he was good for us, so… he really was. He got the best out of us, and he knew what would work with us.”

“We (Quiet Riot) had been turned down by a few labels and ah, you know, they didn’t wanna give us a chance, and Spencer (Proffer) decided to and we got lucky with that, so…. It’s like winning the lottery I guess a little bit when you get a record deal.“

“Even though you get a record deal, you don’t know that your record is even going to do anything, you might go out there and it just doesn’t sell, and you go back home with your tail between your legs. It’s like winning the lottery if you have a hit album, we had the right song, at the right place, at the right time. It’s all about the song.”

“The term Bang Your Head actually came from Randy Rhoads. Ah, me and Kevin were hanging out one day, and Randy called him on the phone from Europe and he was saying; “Yeah, there’s these kids out here, they’re banging their heads like crazy in the front row, they’re called Head Bangers”, that is when the term first came up. And he (Kevin DuBrow) was going; “Head Bangers, I like that, they’re called Head Bangers”, and after he got off the phone Kevin wanted to use it.”

“Kevin (DuBrow) was ya know, a very egotistical guy and he was really, ya know, hard headed about his career. And anything that bothered him, he would mouth off about it. And, I respect that he loves his career that much, that he fights for it, in such a way. that maybe pisses people off.”

“Without him (Kevin DuBrow) there is no Quiet Riot.“

“It’s not Quiet Riot, Kevin had a distinguishable voice and you know it’s Quiet Riot when you heard him you know, you could totally tell… it’s probably not Quiet Riot without me either… me and Kevin were really the ones that wrote all the music for that band, the sound was ours.”

“To be honest with you, they haven’t asked (me to rejoin Quiet Riot). It’s a political thing, you know. I don’t think I would do it anyway, I don’t even want to be in a band anymore to be honest with you.”

Carlos Cavazo on Ratt

“The last time I was doing anything was with Ratt, we toured in 2017 and did all kinds of festivals and stuff, then the band… they tried to fire Warren (DeMartini) for whatever reason.”

“I said “I can’t do this without Warren”, I mean… I don’t wanna be in a band with a revolving door of musicians like Quiet Riot had, so I left.”

Carlos Cavazo on Hear N’ Aid:

“That was the genius of Ronnie James Dio, he orchestrated that whole thing, along with Jimmy Bain (bass) and ah, you the other people that was in his band at the time.”

“I participated in the harmony vocals and the guitar solo. The rhythm playing was other people but um, they had it all, they had everybody come in just lay a bunch of stuff down, and they used what they wanted to use… that;s how is came about.”

Carlos Cavazo on King Kobra:

“I’ve done a lot of gigs with Carmine (Appice) here and there, we never did a record together but I’ve always admired Carmine. He’s a great drummer, a great musician… great person to work with and Paul (Shortino) is a great person to work with, I’ve always enjoyed working with him. They contacted me one day and asked if I would be interested in maybe doing a song or two on their (new) record.”

“Then they ended up wanting me to do the whole record, so I ended bringing some songs as well…and ah… they had about half the record written before I joined. I liked the material they were, you know, they were coming up with and ah, I brought in like I said a few songs and here we are.”

Check out the full video interview below on The Metal Voice.

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