Due to his Armored Saint commitments, legendary basis Joey Vera had to bow out working with Mercyful Fate in 2022, as King Diamond and his darkly-lit cohorts (guitarists Hank Shermann, Mike Wead and drummer Bjarne T. Holm) resurrected the band’s classic catalog with truly massive Exorcist-like shows around the globe. The able-bodied Becky Baldwin (who ended up replacing Vera) is now back with the band permanently, but Vera vividly recalls being in the presence of exalted greatness when he was in rehearsals in Denmark. 

“It was awesome,’ Vera recalls in an excerpt from an upcoming BraveWords interview. “The whole thing was awesome, front to back. I’ve been friends with King for a while, a long time. But to be, like, you know when it got to that point where shows got cancelled two years in a row, so, it was like by the time it actually happened I had already said ‘This is not going to happen’ because shows kept getting cancelled due to COVID-related reasons. But when it was finally happening and I was in Copenhagen and we were rehearsing and we were in this giant warehouse and I’m actually playing these songs - which by the way, like, I was fan-boying out big time, because those are my, that’s my favourite period of Mercyful Fate. The first three, the EP following up to the following record - so for me it was just like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m playing these songs!’, you know? So, the first show, it was all festivals and they were all massive festivals, huge festivals, and I remember the first night I was like pinching myself during the set. There’s fucking King right next to me! In full makeup and his new fucking crown, and he was rocking out next to me. Then there’s Hank over there, and Mike Wead who I knew from Kind Diamond’s band and was friends with him before, and jamming with Bjarne we became great friends too. It was like a weird, surreal dream sort of thing that was happening. I'm not kidding, it took me about a week until I got settled down and started to get used to it and feel normal."

Watch for the complete BraveWords chat with Joey Vera in the coming days.