Despite being in existence for thirty years, Riot have not become the household name that this type of longevity should ensure. Coming to prominence in the late seventies in their native New York with the albums ‘Rock City' and ‘Narita', 1980 saw Riot cross the Atlantic for the first time to play the inaugural Monsters of Rock at Donington and the inclusion ‘Road Racing' on the soundtrack of same. Despite personnel differences and changing musical times, guitarist and founder Mark Reale is still around, and so is Riot. Armed with a new album, ‘Army of One', the band continue to release quality material and Mark was more than happy to chat about the history, the present and the future of a truly legendary metal band.

So Mark, thirty years and you're still here. How has Riot managed to buck so many musical trends and continue playing and recording, or more so, why are you still doing it?

I guess we like what we do, it's that simple. I mean, for us to get the chance to record and tour and to continue doing what we do is a blessing. I mean that very sincerely. There is no feeling like it in the world when you get out to play live on front of the fans, it's very special. There have been many times over the years for one reason or another that we thought, well, this is it, we're finished, but we have always overcome that. As for the musical trend part, we do what we do. In fact we do what we have always done with no apologies or regrets. This is Riot. Good music will always have a audience despite what some will tell you. Roll on the next thirty years…ha ha..

In the early days Riot became a big act pretty quickly, opening for Kiss, AC/DC, Sammy Hagar amongst other notable names of the day. How come Riot didn't truly become a household name akin to the bands mentioned here?

We had signed a production deal with some guys in New York, and of course being young and naive about the business end of things we didn't sign the best deal . Our managers at the time were also a bit naïve... they were scared of doing business with the big boys, and the nature of any business is that you will have to deal with the big guys eventually, but when it came down to it they couldn't do it. They were afraid to rock the boat, they just wanted everything to move along quietly. We ran into so many problems from day one: problems with the record company, problems with our production company, problems with just about everything - personnel changes, whatever, you name it we had it happen to us. When the NWOBHM thing started to happen in the UK we had no idea that we were being included in that ... not as a NWOBHM act, but as a similar band. Rock City started to sell in the UK as an import as it wasn't released there and we were delighted. It came as a shock really, but a nice one.

As a result of that growing popularity in the UK you were invited to play the Monsters of Rock in 1980. Do you have any memories of that day?

Yes, what a day, what a crowd! It was amazing playing in front of that crowd. Rainbow, Scorpions, April Wine... right? I think we played second. It was the beginning for us in the UK. We did go back again supporting Sammy Hagar but to be honest, for one reason and another, we never got back and that's despite playing Europe on a regular basis. We'd ask every time why no shows in England and we'd just get a shrug of the shoulders. We did seven weeks in Europe with Virgin Steel in 1998 and not one UK show. We have been to Spain and Greece since then but still nothing in the UK. Maybe people have forgotten us.

The line up changes over the years have affected the band in terms of continuity. Looking back, were any of these preventable or was it you that instigated the changes?

There have been changes. I think every change was forced upon us by circumstance rather than, you know, sacking people. Just before we came to the UK in 1980 we had Sandy and Kip come in replacing Jimmy and Peter. We thought at that time that this was the line up, and then after all the bullshit that went on with Capitol Records refusing to release 'Fire Down Under' and us switching labels to Elektra we thought it couldn't get worse, then in the middle of the Rush tour in the USA in 1982 Guy (Sperenza) told us he was leaving the band to settle down with his wife. Talk about a blow. We had just got over the whole Capitol thing and then your singer wants to leave! I persuaded him to finish the tour and then we got Rhett (Forester). Incidentally, do you know both Rhett and Guy both died?

Yes, I think fans of the band are aware of that. Riot have maintained a huge following in Japan. It seems the derogatory tag ‘big in Japan' does not affect you at all?

We love Japan, and we love the Japanese fans. In the early nineties we couldn't get a gig in the States due to the alternative/grunge movement, but we could go and play Japan to big audiences. I have no problem with the term 'big in Japan'. Isn't it nice to be big anyplace? We recorded ‘Shine On' live in Japan, a really good record and a great crowd.

Moving forward to the present, Riot have just released a new album ‘Army of One'. Who is the army of one? Considering you are the founding member of the band, are we to believe that it's you carrying the torch?

No, not at all. We had a few album titles, one in particular, ‘Still Alive', which we thought was cool because we weren't sure if people knew we were still around, but we decided on 'Army of One' as it sounded more powerful, or forceful.

Another little thing for the anoraks amongst us, the return of the ‘seal head' on the front cover.

Yes, I thought it would be cool for Tior ('Riot' backwards) to make a return, just as we are in effect. I think it gives it that classic look.

The album was recorded in New York by the one and only Bruno Ravel of Danger Danger, who did a great job on it. Why did you choose Bruno?

I worked with Bruno in Westworld and I thought he had a bunch of great production ideas and you know he's a Julliard guy (world renowned school of music) so he knows his stuff. But to be honest, Bruno is a great guy to work with because I am such a cautious guy in the studio ... Bruno kind of likes to get it done. I never write out any of the solos or anything, I just play them off the cuff and it drives him crazy, ha ha. He is always at me to have things a little more thought out, prepared, but I think spontaneous is better, has more of a feel to it. He doesn't understand that at all, ha ha.

'Army of One' will actually get a European release. Are you excited about that? In fact you are signed to a European label for the first time, so surely things look good for the band from that perspective?

Yes, we are excited about it. The album has drawn great reviews in Japan where it entered the national charts at number 7. That's great. I think it's a very strong album and I think it will appeal to the hard core Riot fan base as well as people who may have not heard a Riot album in a long time.Something for everyone.

So success has been attained once again, especially in Japan?

That's not success, at least not the way I look at it now. Success now is having the ability to carry on doing what we are doing and getting out to play. Yes it's always good to have an album doing well, and hopefully it will do well in Europe too, I certainly hope it does.

So are we likely to see you back in the UK anytime soon?

I don't know, but I certainly hope so. It's been waaay too long!