Last month, in one of the most heartwarming moments of 2025, Karl Wilcox made his first stage appearance since his quadruple heart bypass. The air at the Cart & Horses was charged with emotion as Tank took to the stage, and that evening, the music was a fitting tribute to friendship, resilience, and the spirit of Metal.
The show was a success, and at the end of the night, Karl Wilcox took to the stage to thank everyone there for all their support.
“I’m glad I didn’t fall over and collapse,” Karl Wilcox told MetalTalk when we caught up recently. “I was very excited that I was finally doing what I love doing. When I was rushed into hospital for the emergency quadruple bypass, everything is in front of you, and you think, OK, am I gonna play again?”
“I read the Buddy Rich book. He had a quadruple bypass, and he was out, playing again. I think it was eight weeks, and I thought, OK, it gives you hope. But as the surgeon told me, everyone’s different. You can’t rush this. You gotta take your time.
“They said three to six months. Once they knew that I played drums and they actually watched some video of me playing, they came back and said, ‘We’re thinking maybe six months. We didn’t think you were that energetic.’
“So to get through the gig, I mean, I was a little tired. I think you actually wrote that I looked tired. Debbie, my partner, said, ‘You got to try not to look tired’ [laughs]. OK, all right, I’ll try not to look tired.
“There were a couple of moments when I was a little short of breath. Everybody in Tank said just lay back, take it easy. But it’s not who I am. [laughs] I’ve got to give it fucking 100%, or it’s not me.”
That night with Tank it was certainly full on.
“I’ve done albums and worked with things where I’ll just sit back, sit down and groove,” Karl says. “But for me, the music warrants and demands energy from me, the drummer. ‘Cause everybody else on the front line can pick up on that. That translates to the audience, and then the audience throws it straight back at you, which then creates this revolving cycle of energy.
“There were a couple of moments, but no, it was great to do it, great to get back. I’m just grateful, first of all, for everybody in the medical profession to help me get through this. The surgeons. The anesthesiologist actually took some video of my heart beating. After they opened me up, he stood over, apparently.
“He held his phone over the top of the operating table, and I’ve got like 40-45 seconds of my heart, red and beating. Then 45 seconds of it fucking grey and not doing anything.”
Has Karl Wilcox watched the video yet?
“It took me two and a half months to watch it,” he says. “A lot of things get put into perspective. Life is not over. But at the same time, as I’ve said to you before, it’s like, fuck dude, in the blink of an eye, the whole fucking landscape of your life can change.
“You gotta live every day like it’s your last, and that’s pretty much the way I’m gonna be playing on stage now. I’m hoping it’s not gonna be a Spinal Tap moment, touch wood, you know what I mean? The drummers exploded.
“It’s great to be back, and thanks, Steve. I appreciate everything that you wrote in the article for The Cart & Horses. I’ll do my utmost to try and not look tired.”
There was a real fondness for Karl Wilcox by the crowd at the end of the show when Karl spoke.
“When we got in, and we loaded in, we did a quick sound check,” Karl says. “Then upstairs I really was humbled by the amount of people who came and said ‘Karl, it’s so great to see you back playing. All the best, you know, take it easy.’
“All the wisest words on the planet. And I’m just thinking to myself, I really appreciate that, but I cannot do that. I am going to kick ass. I’m going to do it. I have to do it.
“I felt to myself, and I spoke to Deb, my partner, that if I can’t do that, then I’m gonna have to re-evaluate myself. Because all the cats that inspired me, Phil Rudd, Cozy, Bonham, Brian Downey, um, you know, even Darrell Sweet from like Nazareth…. Once this thing called NWOBHM started, people in the other NWOBHM bands, Witchfinder, Iron Maiden, Saxon, etc, it’s like, fuck it was energy. It was.
“And that’s what I’ve gotta do. That’s who I am. That’s where I came from. So, yeah, I really enjoyed it.”
