Columns

  A Full Disclosure right up front, one and all: ’Way back in the 1980 hey!day of my funzine The Pig Paper, a certain Kevin Michael Allin sent over a sweetly autographed, stuffed-with-promo-material copy of an album called Always Was, Is and Always Shall Be which had been newly issued on none other than David […]

Angel Alamo: How did the band come together? GF: I came up with the band idea after hearing Fabrizio Grossi’s production on the first Starbreaker record. I felt that Fabrizio was good at mixing sounds of progressive, metal and 80’s all in one package on that debut album. So at the time, I had moved […]

Days before the M3 Festival. I had a chance to talk to Autograph guitarist Steve Lynch. The band played twice at M3 Festival they played their day 2 of the M3 Festival. The best part was hearing Autograph play a short set at the after party at the Sheraton at 2 a.m. That was rock […]

So! You thought he forever shuffled off our mortal coil, via a Parisian bathtub, forty-eight long July 3rd’s ago? Well… have I got a scoop for You !!   Jim Morrison? Yeah. Gary Pig Gold here, from BallBuster Music. Hey! Good to talk to you. How’re you doing? You know, you were surprisingly easy to […]

They have performed eight times. Last year they did an acoustic set and this year played a rocking set that made us wish they could keep playing. They are in the middle of the yearlong Dirty 30 tour celebrating the release of their debut album Dirty, Rotten, Filthy, Stinking, Rich. A few hours before they […]

XYZ gave M3 fans twice the fun while performing on day 3 of the M3 Festival. The band presented a small set for fans at the after party event at the Sheraton and then performed at M3 Festival on Sunday afternoon giving fans a 30-minute set that left them hoping they could keep playing for […]

Vixen played a new eight-song set at M3 festival Sunday may, 5, 2019 it was a mixture of covers and some of their songs from there earlier albums. The rain did not stop Vixen from rocking or the audience from enjoying their set after the band put on a great show and did a meet […]

As utterly confounding as even I still consider this lil’ factoid to be, Yours Truly honestly did spend the majority of the dreaded 1980s touring Canada’s hepper lounges and ski resorts as one-fifth of the one and only (…ah-hemm: but AUTHORIZED, I’ll have you know) Beach Boys “tribute” act known as Endless Summer. So there! […]

Tora Tora kicked off the 2nd day of the M3 festival with a rocking 30-minute set that the band did not disappoint at all and were happy to be playing at M3 Festival. Fans who attended got to see the band live and also meet the group. After the performance, the band took time out […]

  If I can just get my mind together, the first “real” concert I ever attended as a wee Canadian tyke was The Jimi Hendrix Experience at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, fifty years ago this very night… on May the 3rd, 1969.   I’d already been a fervent fan for a couple of years, having […]

Mike Tramp released his 11th studio album Stray from the flock earlier this year. He also kicked off the world tour that will keep him busy and on the road. I had the opportunity to catch up with Mike Tramp on one of his tour stops at Hopewell Theater in Hopewell, NJ to talk about […]

M3 Festival Returns May 3rd, 4th, & 5th 11th annual M3 festival returns Friday, May 3, Saturday, May 4, and Sunday, May 5, 2019, to the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. This year’s line up will include a lot of favorites featuring Whitesnake, Autograph, Bang Tango, Extreme, Firehouse, Kingdom Come, KIX, LA Guns, Quiet […]

  In amp-on-at-least-11 tribute to the late, extremely great – not to mention extremely ball- and ear-busting Dick Dale, may I present my Ten OTHER All-Time Favorite Guitarists …in order of their initial phonographic appearances, that is:   BO DIDDLEY Rock ‘n’ Roll is Beat, and Beat needs a Rhythm, and basically… BO KNOWS. Sure, […]

Tilted has been rocking and rolling the New Jersey rock scene for ten years now opening up for such major acts as Skid Row, Dokken among others. The band has also played at the famous Stone Pony many times and continues to rock across the east coast. I had a chance to interview before the […]

  On the afternoon of March 9, 1969, three guitar-and-drum-beating sisters from tiny Fremont, New Hampshire entered an even tinier recording studio and emerged, just a few hours later, with a dozen original rock ‘n’ roll songs on some quarter-inch tape. These twelve songs were then pressed onto one thousand vinyl records, nine hundred copies […]

  He appeared exactly 87 years ago this month, then left us a mere 71 years later. Even so, I still have   Ten Reasons why JOHNNY CASH Always Matters:   “LUTHER PLAYED THE BOOGIE” Without a red hot and blue band to back it all the way up, even a Man in Black’s powers […]

With all the social media their fingertips, It’s harder for bands than ever to get noticed. I have touched on this before, and it bears worth repeating. There are just way too many bad bands out there these days in underground metal. More labels are ever releasing below average or in some cases poor product […]

  Lindsey Buckingham got kicked out of Fleetwood Mac (again), The Monkees made their first-ever Christmas album (!), and I am still waiting for that big Turtles Battle of the Bands Commemorative Special Anniversary Collectors Edition. In the meantime though, I remained happily singing along beneath headphones to (in strictly Alphabetical order)… EDGAR BREAU Edgar […]

  The other day I did something I haven’t done in a while. A long, long while. After taking a break to gulp down my standard late-afternoon frothy chocolate shake, a friend decided to drive us spur-of-the-moment clear cross-town to… a record store. Yes, a record store. Remember those? And there, displayed with obvious care […]

Tartarus is a Black/Death Metal band from Pittsburgh, PA with Influences from “Mythology,” Ancient History, Destruction, War, Paganism, Thelema, Misanthropy. Members include Clarissa- Vocals, Ben- Guitar, Devon- Bass & Mike on Drums. Here’s a little chat I had with vocalist Clarissa Badini CF: So how long have you lived in Pittsburgh, PA?CB: My whole life. […]

I love this band and what they are doing. They are blending a mix of 80’s metal without the hair metal crap and throwing in some good ole rock n roll and damned if it doesn’t kick ass. Vocals with a TON of feeling and emotion and great playing by the musicians on this. Oh, […]

(A Live Report, Darryl Hall, and John Oates!) Darryl Hall and John Oates brought their eight-piece band to Atlantic City Hard Rock Casino for an electrifying sold-out show that didn’t disappoint. Darryl Hall and John Oates played to a sold-out show that consisted of people of all ages. Hall and Oates played a 14 song […]

Some excellent blues-based rock with a beautiful sounding guitar. Besides Thorn Germain, who plays all the guitar and bass on this, there is six other session musicians and all sound quite right to these ears. There are several different singers among the tunes and not a bad one in the bunch. The songs are all […]

What we have here is a pretty different CD at that; however, this is not a bad thing as it seems to work for the band, Multiple genres, influences ranging from shades of Sabbath and Zeppelin to A Perfect Circle, Deftones and others. Armed with five memorable tracks, I can tell these guys have been […]

Buckets N Joints is an alternative rock band that started in 2012… These past years the band has made quite a journey by playing shows all around Israel (over 100 shows in the last year),  The band also performed in Germany and Russia, and managed and promoted by ‘Firefox Musikverlag’ Germany. The group soon embark […]

Mesmerizing, Captivating, Intelligent piece of work. A Haunting, informative, impressive clip! A powerful tune which may say something of what’s to come by these four talented Canadian Hard rockers! I have faith they have the goods. What say you? Definitely keep an eye out for this band. The Bleeding Lights! Majestic!! Thebleedinglights.com https://www.facebook.com/TheBleedingLights/ “Faith and […]

For 30 years, Tyketto’s life is like a Rocky story. A band that has been knocked down and refuses to give up. They are the band that’s still rocking with no signs of slowing down. Tyketto (Danny Vaughn-Vocals, Chris Green-Guitar, Greg Smith-bass, Michael Clayton-drums, Ged Rylands-keyboards) have had a busy year touring. This year will […]

When metalcore is blended with hard rock, the end result is The Bleeding Lights; one of the most promising and exciting Bands that are making waves not only within the Canadian Music Industry but throughout the World as well.   Since the Band’s current line-up of Owen Kelly (Lead Vocals), Carmen Lamont (Guitar), Greg Aplin […]

  Ten so long years ago, a random gathering of some of the best musicians from Canada’s greatest musical berg threw themselves onstage as part of the annual Locke Street Festival. Spearheaded by legendary Junkhouse dog Tom Wilson, said ad-hoc combo was busy rocking and rolling things all the way up that street as the […]

Blaze Bayley (born Bayley Alexander Cooke; 29 May 1963) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, and lyricist. He was the lead singer of Wolfsbane from 1984 to 1994, and currently from 2010 following reunions in 2007 and 2009. Bayley was also the lead singer for Iron Maiden from 1994 to 1999. Since then, he has […]