Episode 253 of the "Iron City Rocks" podcast (web site) features an interview with legendary vocalist Joe Lynn Turner (RAINBOW, DEEP PURPLE, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN). You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Asked about the difficulty of getting his new project RATED X (formerly LEGACY X) — which also features drummer Carmine Appice (VANILLA FUDGE, CACTUS, MOTHER'S ARMY), bassist Tony Franklin (THE FIRM, BLUE MURDER) and guitarist Karl Cochran (JOE LYNN TURNER, NUCLEAR ASSAULT) — out on the road, Turner said: "[Touring has become more important] since the revenue stream from CDs has been taken away from us — which it really has; we don't make money on CDs anymore… I mean, not like we used to. Our music, apparently, people have decided should be free. Isn't that nice? So that's really killing art and killing the artist. But we manage to keep our heads above water by playing live and selling merch. And that's really the bottom line. And, of course, to make a new CD is basically a calling card, to say, 'Okay, c'mon, hear these tunes, hear these songs, and hear this sound.' And that's what we're doing with RATED X."

He continued: "We feel we've got a real driving force in this business right now with, I would say, melodic hard rock, and that's what this album is. We didn't try to get too modern on it, except for our sound — I think we used technology to increase our sound, but no production tricks; we can do everything we do on that album live — and we're dying to get out there. And now, here's the paradigm… You run into the promoters… Not only are the schedules [of the individual bandmembers] difficult [to line up], but the promoters will say, 'Well, we know Joe Lynn Turner, Carmine, Tony… individually, but we don't know them together.'"

Turner added: "So now, the record just came out, so to make a long story short, we're up against, now the record's gotta catch fire, and it's gotta go from word of mouth, and journalists and radio and podcasts and everything else, and social media, so here we are. And we're really concentrating on that. They're doing a great job for us as far as the promo — it's getting out there and we're meeting with incredible reviews, the listeners love it. So, fingers crossed, we will be [going out on the road], but it probably won't happen 'till late summer or early fall [next year]."