Highwire Daze #150

Sketches By The Editor

Editor Ken with Dead Groove Band

Welcome to Highwire Daze Issue #150! It was awesome to cover the Taylor Swift Eras Tour at SoFi Stadium - had to fly back from a San Francisco vacation early, but the night was magical and iconic. Check out our coverage in this issue! And always an honor to interview the amazing Nita Strauss, a true guitar trailblazer who is now back on tour with Alice Cooper. Check out our interview on Page 18.

A day at Dystopian Studios brought about two interviews and photo shoots with Dead Groove Band and Kaleido - both featured in this issue. Watch for all the other terrific local bands from our Dystopian Studios day in the next issue and/or online.

It was great to chat with the legendary Firefall again, especially since they are now repped by Wendy Brynford-Jones, who did publicity for IRS Records way back when the magazine began. So wonderful to hear from Wendy again!

Thank you for supporting Highwire Daze magazine! I’ll see you out at shows, or in the world of social media. Highwire Daze Issue #151, our 33rd Anniversary Edition - will be out November 17th, featuring an interview with Doro and more!

The Wright Wave Radio at Live 365

Down In Wuhan

New original 12 song Hollywood Hard-Rock album

Down In Wuhan released world-wide in 2023!

Produced by: Tone Raven

Available Now. Everywhere.

World-Wide on all major platforms. iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and CD. youtube.com/toneraventunes

MANAGEMENT-TONE RAVEN MUSIC

Presented by Jonathan D. Wright

Established October 2012

Playing all of your rock, pop, and new wave favorites 24 hour a day, 7 days a week!

http://www.thewrightwave.com/

Product Review by James Grover

As a guitarist and a studio musician when it comes to recording we want to make that close to perfect recording with the best quality guitar tones and growl.

Let me introduce you to this new studio beast the Laney Lionheart L-5

If you are in the studio and looking for that ultimate guitar tone and growl there is a new studio amp that’s going to give just that. The Laney Lionheart L-5 is designed with todays technology to simplify your studio recordings and the amount of time we spend trying to dial in guitar tone.

This Laney L-5 is the first and only amplifier that has the ability to interface with any DAW across any platform using Laney’s unique T-USB technology. The amplifier delivers an amazing clean crisp dynamics and full guitar tones. If you are a blues, rock, jazz, or metal guitarist you will not be disappointed.

Features:

PS/IOS platforms

Hand selected tubes ECC83 & EL84

REAL TUBE tone directly into your DAW

FS2 mini footswitch

Switchable effects loop

On-board studio quality reverb

The L-5 is a must have for any studio, the quality of this British amplifier is superb for studio or home use , what I like about this unit that It was designed by musicians for musicians.

https://www.laney.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/james.grover.311

In Musical Orbit by Jupiter

Jupiter at Highwire Daze Online Crew East Coast Editor

Welcome to my page. It’s Jupiter Lee - East Coast Editor. Check out my record reviews here and be sure to add me on Facebook! Link is at the end of my column...

Megalomanium Eclipse Frontiers Music

Swedish rockers ECLIPSE have just released their tenth album , MEGALOMANIUM

Musicians include vocalist ERIK MARTENSSON, guitarist MAGNUS HENRIKSSON, drummer PHILIP CRUSNER and VICTOR CRUSNER on bass guitar. Ripping

into track 01 is The Hardest Part Is Losing You. A powerful sound of hard rock with a high-energy melodic sense to it showcasing MARTENSSON’s extraordinary voice. Track 02 Got It!, also another radio-friendly tune that contains tasteful time changes and a killer arrangement. Bass guitar and drums working as one. Track 03 Anthem shows some extraordinary musicianship. Concise, power-packed track # 06, the whole band really delivers here and you can feel the passion and excitement on I Don’t Get It. One of my faves. I would reference MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE and a spice of WHITESNAKE as influences with vocal harmonies being a big part of their sound. Containing eleven tracks and at just under forty minutes, MEGALOMANIUM is a whirlwind of versatility, energy and emotion!! I feel ECLIPSE will be a force to be reckoned with. You can follow the band here:

https://www.instagram.com/eclipse_sweden/

TAYLOR SWIFT on THE ERAS TOUR

SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CA., August 7th, 2023

Taylor Swift and The Eras Tour made its way to The SoFi Stadium in Inglewood for six sold out nights - and the entire event was absolutely historic! An epic three- and half-hour set would be experienced by Swifties of all ages, and the magic and memories made during these amazing nights would surely last for a lifetime.

Taylor is always known to bring brand new talent on the rise to her shows, and for The Eras Tour, she presented two of the very best. Opening the night was Gracie Abrams, winning over the early arrivals with her vibrant presence, stunning voice, and instantly memorable songs. Selections such as Where Do We Go?, 21, and I Miss You, I’m Sorry reverberated loud and clear with the Swifties

Next up was Haim, a Los Angeles band comprising three sisters, Este (bass guitar and vocals), Danielle (lead vocals, guitar, and drums), and Alana Haim (guitars, keyboards, and vocals). Playing a hometown show at SoFi Stadium, Haim delivered the goods tenfold with terrific songs such as Now I’m In It, The Wire, Gasoline, and The Steps. These sisters are massively talented and could very well be doing their own headlining stadium tour one day with performances this impressive.

And then it was time for the main event, and the adoration of the crowd when Taylor Swift arrived on the stage was a clarion call that could have been heard all around the world. Launching immediately into the Lover phase of her career, Taylor Swift kicked off the set with Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince and Cruel Summer - and for the remainder of the night, the legacy of Taylor Swift was on full display

Review by Ken Morton - Photos by Jack Lue

- and this was a dazzling stadium performance for the ages.

Selections from Fearless would then be unveiled, followed by tracks from the mighty Evermore, which included the sisters from Haim performing on the standout No Body, No Crime. And the hits and eras of a brilliant career kept on arriving, with Reputation and Speak Now being highlighted. Selections from Red included very well-known tracks such as We Are Never Getting Back Together, I Knew You Were Trouble, and the glorious powerhouse All Too Well in all it’s 10-minute splendor.

Folklore is one of Taylor Swift’s most adventurous and critically acclaimed albums, and it was a thrill to hear several selections such as The Last Great American Dynasty, My Tears Ricochet, and the superb Cardigan brought to the forefront.

The 1989 songs were up next, opening with the wistfully magnificent Style, where the nostalgic lyrics, “You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye” reigned supreme throughout the hallowed walls of the SoFi.

It was now time for the surprise songs, where it was just Taylor and her audience in a surprisingly intimate moment. You could tell Taylor was extremely moved by the waves of love and appreciation from the fans, especially at this very striking and poignant part of the evening. Two songs were debuted for the Eras Tour on the amazing night: Dress on acoustic guitar, and Exile on piano.

It was time to bring the dancers and massive sets back for the grand finale of the Midnights era, where hits such as Lavender Haze, Anti-Hero, Vigilante Shit, and Karma sent the entire SoFi Stadium into a euphoric state of pure sonic bliss.

Taylor Swift is a modern-day legend, and she has the talent and versatility that leaves an everlasting impact on her many fans. The Eras Tour was nothing short of a cultural phenomenon, with Taylor Swift and her entire company placing a ton of heart and soul into

each and every aspect of the performance.

This reviewer will remember 2023 for two absolutely absorbing shows - the final Elton John dates at Dodgers Stadium, and now the Taylor Swift Eras Tour at SoFi! The costumes, the choreography, the singing, and those brilliantly iconic songs –all with the production values of a hit Broadway show. The Eras Tour presents an artist at the very height of her creative genius, and it’s a spectacular extravaganza that is not to be missed!

https://www.taylorswift.com/

Trailblazing Guitarist Nita Strauss presents The Call Of The Void

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Jack Lue

Nita Strauss has dazzled over a million live audience members per year across six continents worldwide. Fans may recognize Nita from her tours with Alice Cooper, Demi Lovato, and as the official guitarist of the Los Angeles Rams NFL team, as well as her successful career as a solo artist. A trailblazer in every sense of the word, Nita Strauss has been an inspiration for guitarists all over the world. At the record release show for her latest album The Call Of The Void at The Whisky, not only was Nita surprised by the adoration of fans and the announced chart positioning of the new album - but a marriage proposal would also be issued by longtime boyfriend and drummer Josh Villalta A few weeks after the epic event, Highwire Daze caught up with Nita Strauss to discuss her the current happenings from an absolutely brilliant career in music...

What was it like to be proposed to in front of a packed house at the Whisky a Go Go?

Yeah. It was one of the best if not the best nights of my entire life. Just so incredible. The culmination of almost 3 years of work on the record. My family was there, his family was there, so many of our friends and loved ones - and so to not only have the album release and, you get those preliminary numbers at midnight Eastern time, which is 9 p.m. our time in LA. So we already knew that we were having a super strong debut right before we even got on stage. We found out that we had come out at number 1 on the iTunes rock chart and I think we were number 4 overall on iTunes like across all of album sales. We started that night riding on a high and then you have this amazing proposal from Josh, it was just the icing on an incredible, incredible day.

Were you even expecting that to happen at the show?

I wasn’t expecting it, but we’ve been together almost 9 years so I’m at that point now where I see a proposal around every corner, every birthday or anniversary, I sound like, “Is it going to be it?” But I didn’t have any real information that it was going to be that day.

Where did you both meet and how did he wind up in your band?

We actually met just up the street from The Whisky. We really met in the parking lot between The Rainbow and The Roxy. We were introduced by a mutual A&R rep at the time Mike Taft. I didn’t know what a great drummer he was until we had been dating for a little while and I saw him play. So when it came time to put solo music out, I thought who better to play in my band than the people that are closest to me. So my now fiancé is my drummer. My best friend Katt is my

keyboard player. We make all of my solo music together, the 3 of us.

Let’s talk about the new album, The Call of the Void. Is there any story or concept behind that title first of all? So The Call of the Void is that feeling you get when you’re at the top of a tall building and you look over the edge and you’re like, “I could jump.” You have that sort of impulsive like it’s not a suicidal impulse but it just kind of like I wonder what if. The theory behind it is that every time you make this subconscious to not jump, to step back from the ledge, you’re making a subconscious decision to take control of your life and live your life. I thought that was a powerful message. So, I thought it was a great metaphor for how I felt making this record.

The all-star cast on the album includes Lzzy Hale from Halestorm on Through The Noise. How did that collaboration come about?

I’ve known Lzzy for a few years now. We are big fans of each other and great friends even though we don’t get to see each other very often. So she was, of course, on the top of my wish list of people to collaborate with in this record. So when we finally thought we had the right song for her, I reached out to her and she was super excited about it. She recorded her parts in the studio in Nashville and just absolutely knocked out her part. She’s such a great talent and so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with her.

Alice Cooper appears on one of your songs, A Winner Takes All. What was it like to have Alice on your album and what has it been like to perform with him and his band again? It’s been amazing. Alice and myself and the guys, and his wife, and our whole crew, we’re like a family. There’s not a lot of turnover in the Alice Cooper crew. We’ve all been together almost a decade now, with very, very few change outs in the crew. So it really is, it’s just like a family and getting the opportunity to now work with Alice in the studio, in 2 different capacities. Both having him on my record and then being on his upcoming record, The Road. It was just so cool to get this different experience of working together after so long.

You mentioned The Road. Tell me about Alice’s new album The Road and what could fans expect from that?

It’s very heart-driving fun to listen to album. I was actually just listening to some of it at the gym this morning. It was really, really cool that they allowed the current band to step in and do a lot of the writing and all of the recording on the record. So, you have myself, Ryan Roxie, Tommy Henriksen, Chuck Garric, Glen Sobel in there, in the writing process, in

the performance process. I think because we have been with Alice for long, all of us, we have a very deep understanding of not only what kind of stuff the fans like to hear, but also the kind of stuff that Alice likes to perform. What gets him excited and what he has fun with. So we made a fun heart-driving album and of course, with Bob Ezrin at the helm, we can’t go wrong.

What was it like working with Bob Ezrin? That guy’s a legend too.

A total Legend. Yeah, and a strict taskmaster. The thing about Bob is that he knows what he wants and he knows how to get that out of the musicians that he works with. So as long as you’re comfortable sitting in the passenger seat and letting Bob drive, that will ensure a smooth session. I’m very comfortable with that because, why would I tell Bob Ezrin how to make an Alice Cooper record?

What was it like touring with Demi Lovato and do you plan to return to her band?

Yeah, I had a wonderful time touring with Demi. I think this year, she’s just doing some one-off shows. But any time there’s an opportunity in the schedule for me to go back and play with her, I would love to do it again.

Did you know her current touring guitarist Constance Antoinette?

Not well. I met Constance for the first time when they were at The Stone Pony in New Jersey. And actually, I had a day off in the vicinity with my solo band. So I got up and played a song with them at that show and I met Constance that day. She was very nice. She did a great job with the songs. The tour is in very, very good hands with her.

You’ve inspired so many female and male guitarists. What goes through your mind knowing that you’ve inspired so many people and have been viewed as a trailblazer in so many ways?

It’s crazy mainly because there are so many people that I credit with blazing the trail that I’m on, that I guess just to be a part of that conversation is really an honor. To get to just continue on blazing trails that the great guitar players before me started out for us. The Jennifer Battens and the Lita Fords and the original generation of great, female guitar players. And just to keep that momentum going. And now there are still many incredible female players coming up and not even just the girls. There’re these amazing players of all genres and all genders just absolutely killing the game.

The first time I met you was when you were playing with The Iron Maidens, do you still keep in touch with them at all?

I do a little here and there. Yeah, I talk to Courtney Cox particularly all the time. I know she’s more doing the Burning Witches project now. But Courtney and I have remained close even though we don’t see each other very often.

I was reading, you were the guitarist for the Rams. What was that experience like and are you a Rams’ fan?

Oh, it’s the best. I actually just got back from the Rams’ home opener at 9AM yesterday morning. I flew out from the Alice Cooper, Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard shows, for 1 day, to LA. Played the game against the Chargers, took a red-eye out at midnight, got back to the tour, slept for 3 hours, got up, and then played another stadium show with Alice Cooper. So it’s a whirlwind. But working with the team is so fun. I’m a huge NFL fan. I’m a Los Angeles girl, born and raised in LA. So getting to be a part of the team experience, getting to go to so many games, first of all, is fun in and of itself and then getting to go there and do what I love and be a part of like hyping up the team and the players and the fans even more, it’s the most fun gig and I got a Super Bowl ring out of it. So, that’s pretty cool.

What’s up next for you?

I’ve got several months of touring ahead with Alice Cooper. We’re going to finish out this run of shows with Mötley and Def Leppard and then we’re going to go out with Rob Zombie and Ministry and Filter, which will be a really cool package. And then after that, my solo band will finish out the year with a string of shows opening for Mammoth WVH, Wolfgang Van Halen’s band. So, that’s going to be the end of my year. And trying to plan a wedding with all that too. So a lot is going on.

Do you have any messages for your fans who are reading this right now?

Just thank you so much for checking out what we’re doing. Thank you so much to you Ken and Jack for being such great supporters of this scene and particularly women in metal and women in rock music. I love what you guys do and I’m grateful to be a part of it.

On The Friends & Family Plan with FIREFALL

Interview

Classic rock band Firefall presents Friends & Family! Celebrating songs from bands whose histories are intertwined with the various past and present members of Firefall, the 13 tracks represent multiple Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, country rock pioneers, Southern rock superstars, and Top 40 hit-makers. The perfect followup to Comet, their pandemic era comeback endeavor, Friends & Family is sure to enrapture music fans of all of generations. It was an absolute honor to chat with founding member Jock Bartley once again, this time to discuss the creation of Friends & Family, available now via Sunset Boulevard Records. Read on...

How did the idea of Friends & Family initially come about?

Pretty interesting. Our manager, Len Fico, who’s also our record label with Sunset Boulevard Records, about a year and a half ago gave me a call and said, “You know, the original Firefall members, many of you guys used to play with other famous bands like The Birds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Heart, Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne, Gram Parsons, Dan Fogelberg”, Len Fico said, “Why don’t you guys do an album of just their songs?” And when he said that, I went, “What a great idea”, but the light bulb went on and I said, “How about we expand that idea?” Because in 1976, when our first album was released, and went gangbusters and went gold in less than three months and suddenly we were on the road with a lot of the best bands of the day, I said, “How about we expand that to be some of those bands we got to be friends with and toured with a lot like Fleetwood Mac, the Doobie Brothers, Loggins and Messina, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker, et cetera”, and he

by Ken Morton - Photos by Joe Schaeffer

said, “That’s a great idea.”

And so the idea was formulated back when Mark Andes was still in the band and actually Friends & Family was kind of a lot about Mark because we toured a lot with Heart and everything. Mark was in Heart and Mark played with Dan Fogelberg. I was friends with Dan, but I never played with him. He sat in with us a couple of times. And so right before this album was going to be made, Mark decided to retire. And it was a shame because David Muse, our sax flute keyboard player, died about a year ago from cancer. And Mark retired and suddenly it was like, “We needed a new bass player.” And we found John Bisaha, who’s also in The Babys, an amazing lead vocalist, and Steve Weinmeister rejoined the band. And our vocals are as good as they’ve been in 20, 30 years. So when we started trying to pick the songs, what songs should we do?

I knew immediately that we had to be very careful and there were some songs that were off limits, at least in my mind. Like for instance, when we were trying to figure out what Heart song to play, somebody said, “Hey, let’s do Barracuda.’ And I went, “No, that’s kind of off limits.” Barracuda should only be Heart. And Len, in fact, when he heard we toured with The Band with Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson back on their last tour in 1976, Len said, “Hey, that’s great. You can play up on Cripple Creek.” And I went, “No, Levon Helm should be the only guy to ever sing that song.” So we had to be careful and be cognizant and pick songs wisely.

And this whole album, Friends & Family, really is about us honoring those songs, those bands, that we played with and got to be friends with. And the era of the late 60s and the 70s, which I don’t think will ever be duplicated in American music anymore, just because, if you had a band that had good songs or a good song or two, and you sounded like you sounded, record labels would sign you. The 80s came around and suddenly the record labels got their vice like grip around bands next and said, “No, you can’t do that song or we want you to sound like this or whatever.” But back in the ‘70, it was amazing because bands like the Eagles and Dan Fogelberg and Firefall and Little River Band and Loggins and Messina, we got to play our own material and it was just really great. So we tried to pick very carefully the songs that appear on Friends & Family And I think we succeeded pretty good.

Robbie Robertson of the band recently passed away. What are your memories of him and what made you decide to cover Chest Fever?

The Band, as a band, were maybe one of the very best American bands ever. And their first two albums, Music from Big Pink and the Brown album, self-titled The Band, are two of the most amazing rock and roll, funky albums ever made in America. And it was so great playing with them. They were my heroes and to actually open shows for them and when they played every night, I’d go sit behind the curtain and I’d be like 10 or 12 feet away from Levon Helm playing drums and singing. And it was just so amazing to be opening shows for them. Robbie was a great writer. I know that The Band got kind of pissed off at him toward the end when they were about to break up. But that’s a whole other story.

But Robbie was great. As a lead guitar player, he played what the song needed in his own style. He wasn’t a really spectacular great lead guitar player, like a Clapton or a Jeff Beck or something like that but boy, he played what those songs needed that he wrote.

It was one of the most amazing times in my professional career to open shows for The Band. Unbelievable. The other band that just stands out from the 70s for me is we opened a lot of shows for the new Fleetwood Mac with Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks off of their white album, and we did so opening the shows for them with our little 35 minutes set and sometimes not getting a sound check. And we warmed up the crowd just fine for them that by the time the Rumors album came out, which became the biggest album in the world at that time. They had us open a lot of shows for them. And to sit and watch Fleetwood Mac play during the Rumors tour was just fantastic. They

were the top band in the world then.

At least two Firefall members were in the Flying Burrito Brothers. You covered Colorado, which was also magnificently covered by Linda Ronstadt. What made you decide to cover that particular song from the Flying Burrito Brothers?

Well, I never played with the Flying Burrito Brothers, but I got to play in Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris’s band, The Fallen Angels. And I played in the Chris Hillman band from The Byrds and the Flying Burrrito Brothers. And Michael Clarke was the original Firefall drummer from The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers So when it came time to pick the right Burrito Brothers song to play, it just seemed obvious that Colorado would be the selection because that’s where Rick Roberts had his first hit song. And the Burrito Brothers version of Colorado, which was on the first album that Rick replaced Gram Parsons with, it wasn’t a hit or didn’t even get much airplay, I don’t think. But yeah, when Linda Ronstadt covered it, suddenly Rick Roberts had his first hit record, with Linda doing Colorado. And it was so amazing. That’s where he learned firsthand about, “Boy, if I write a song that gets on the radio and is a hit song, I can make a heck of a lot of money.” So by the time he joined Firefall, he had a pocketful of songs that were great.

How did John Basaha become involved? Cause I know he’s been busy with The Babys as well. Yeah. And when Len, our manager suggested after Mark quit, I said, “We need a bass player who can sing high.” And Len was kind of pushing John Bisaha to be in Firefall for a year or two, even when Mark Andes was still in the band. And I thought about hiring John just to be a singer. He could play tambourine and just sing. He was so great. But when Mark retired and left the band, John joined and I was a little concerned that he was still playing with The Babys. But I found out that The Babys only really work five or six or seven shows a year. And we can deal with that. So he’s still playing with The Babys, but I don’t think they have a show until this winter. And Firefall is working every weekend, one, two or three gigs here this fall and early winter. And we got a new album coming out, Friends and Family on September 20th, which is coming up here soon, finally.

I got a scoop for you. We are in the process of making Friends & Family 2! We’re doing a second album with this concept and we’re doing a song by Stephen Stills and a song by The Beach Boys, another song by Fleetwood Mac, another Burrito Brothers song. And we’re about five or six songs into cutting this album, this new Friends & Family 2 album, which will be out maybe in the spring of

2024 because we all feel really strong about doing another one.

Do you have any messages for Firefall fans who are reading this right now?

I’ve known ever since I became the leader of the band back in the late 70s, early 80s, that when we play a song like You Are The Woman or Just Remember I Love You or Cinderella or Strange Way, people are paying really good money to see us play and they want to hear the song sound as much like the record as we can make it. And by God, we do that. And having said that, we have a number of songs we can go new places and stretch out and jam with. But the thing that we have most on stage is I think fun. It is so fun, even for me, who’s been in the band since 1865, it feels like. To have all these songs that people love. Back in the 70s, it was either AM radio, which was for us, You Are the Woman or Just Remember I Love You or Strange Way - or FM radio, Cinderella, Mexico, other songs like that. We kind of had the best of both worlds. We had big hit single AM radio songs that were kind of poppy songs. But then we had more down-and-dirty songs that filled our albums. And like I said, it’s all about the songs. And you got to have songs before you try to make a record because if you don’t have really good songs or if you’re kidding yourself about, “Hey, I think this could be a hit”, you really need to have really good songs and it kind of doesn’t matter who writes them.

https://firefallofficial.com/

A Hard Reset with The Word Alive

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Jack Lue

The Word Alive has returned in a massive way, presenting an epic new album entited Hard Reset via Thriller Records. The times are changing, and perhaps not for the better, as vocalist Telle Smith reflects in many of the songs found within Hard Reset. The new album features The Word Alive at the very height of their creative energies, unleashing a thoroughly impassioned recording that music fans with want to revisit time and again. Highwire Daze recently caught up with Telle Smith to find out a whole lot more about Hard Reset, what keeps him so passionate about The Word Alive after all this time, collaborations with dynamic new bands such as Caskets and Stain The Canvas, and more...

So, first of all, Telle, is there any overall story or concept behind the Hard Reset title?

I think in general, the last few years have been that for a lot of people, whether it was the pandemic and being forced into it, or just the time that people had to spend with self-reflection, diving into, “What do I actually want for my life? What are things that maybe have been lacking?” And then we’re coming out of it, all of us together, but in so many different ways. And maybe the person you felt you were going into 2020 is not who the person is that came out of it. And that’s totally fine. And for the band, that meant a lineup change and a look in the mirror and like, well, if we’re going to continue on, it needs to be for the right reasons and needs to be because we want to really say something that we feel is important with our music and the words and our message. And so the Hard Reset for us was just that decision to turn it off and turn it back on and just try to make the record that we feel is the record that Word Alive fans would not only love and want to hear but that maybe some people need to hear.

Let’s talk about the brand-new single Slow Burn. Is there any story behind that song?

Yeah, so that one it’s kind of a story. It stemmed from a personal relationship of mine, but I wanted it to be bigger than just me. As we were working on it, it just felt so personal that I just stayed leaning into that. This happens in all kinds of relationships, and maybe you’ve experienced it, or someone who’s reading this has, but you enter into a relationship, whether it’s a friendship, a business partnership, a romantic, or otherwise, you come as you are, as they say. And because of life, the experiences you have, the challenges you face individually and together, it pulls you, and it’s always forward. You’re always moving forward.

Time is moving forward. Well, if you’re not focused on communication and growing together, then it’s very easy for you to grow apart. And it’s very rare that you do so at the same exact time in the same way. And you’re both conscientious of it, and usually there’s someone who is aware of it, and maybe that’s like they’re longing for your time. Maybe they’re longing for your communication or affection or whatever it is. And so the song is about that slow burn of relationships coming undone, but where one person doesn’t really see it even happening until it’s too late. And I’d made mention of it’s like a car crash, and maybe it’s in slow motion, and you can see everything that’s going to happen, but you can’t do anything about it.

It’s too late. You’re already in the intersection. It’s there’s just an inevitability that it will. The relationship, as you know it, will be destroyed. And then having that longing feeling of “I would go back, I would do anything to go back,” which is a common thing I think in life is we always, when we hit a crossroads, or we hit a really hard time, it’s a lot easier for us to look back and be like, “I would go back, I would change this, I would do that.” And as we all know, it’s not possible to do that. So the only realistic thing is this is over. It is. It has come to whatever fruition it has, and all you can do is learn from it, grow, move on, and then try to not make the same mistakes in the future. And so that’s a broad view of what that song is about.

Let’s talk about Strange Love and the story behind that one

Yeah, Strange Love, which is one of the earlier songs that I had written for this record. This song is about toxic love. And it doesn’t matter how good of a person you are, how nice you are, how put together you are, you can know who you are. There’s just something about a toxic relationship that it gets through the cracks of who you are. It finds your insecurities, it finds your vulnerability, and it starts to twist that and use who you are and how you are against you. And at least in my experience, I have found that when you’re at a certain point in your life, it’s almost impossible to recognize until it’s too late. And so this song is kind of about coming out the other side of a toxic relationship, but they have the 7 stages of grief like this one represents the anger. And you see everything that this person has taken from you, and you’re starting to recognize habits and patterns, and now you feel this anger, but it’s also empowering you because you know that you’re never going to let that happen again.

Why don’t you select any other song, and what inspired the lyrics for you?

I’ll go with Nocturnal Future. It’s the first song we dropped. And to me, it wasn’t “here’s our big first single back.” It was more because of what it said, and I wanted to start this new chapter of the band and the first listen into just a small glimpse into what Hard Reset represents as a whole. And that’s kind of about not just self-reflection but looking at the way the world is. And sometimes I feel I’m seeing the news. I’m on social media, and I’m just like, “Am I the only one that feels like things are getting worse and worse and worse?” And so I wanted to put a song out that felt like a desperate call for everyone to start looking around and seeing what change you can make in your own lives and then having those thoughts and feelings myself of like, is this going to continue on my whole life? Are we even going to see more peaceful days in my lifetime? Have those days come and gone now with social media?

And we have instant access to information and knowledge of what’s happening all around us and the world. But it just seems it’s like this magnifying glass of negativity, at times, and hate, and it’s just this dark sun feel. Like you go outside and the sun’s bright and it’s shining on you, and you can feel it, and you can see the sun, you can sense it, but you’re not looking at it and you’re not really acknowledging it. You just know it’s there, but it’s such a big part of your life. Well, the reason I use the metaphor of the dark sun is because it is something you can stare at. It is something you can see. We can all see this huge barrel of negative energy, and it feels like we’re losing the battle of fixing things. So that’s what that song’s about. And it’s like a desperate thing of like, “Hey, it’s feeling like the world is falling apart, and we have to do something about it while we still can.”

You’ve done guest vocals for some really interesting bands over just the last few months. I just wanted to ask you about Caskets and Stain in the Canvas and what that experience was like working with those newer bands. So the Stain The Canvas one, I can’t even remember how they reached out. I just know that they did. I hadn’t heard of them yet. I think it was a guitar player, maybe. And he was a big fan of The Word Alive. “I’m in a band. I have this song, and I would love to have you on it.” And I think it was at a time where I hadn’t done anything in a while, and I was like, “Oh, let me check it out.” And I always will, like, if someone wants to send me something, I’ll at least try to listen to it and be like, “Is this something that could be right for me? Does it make sense?” And when I heard the song, I was like, “I’ve never done anything like this one.” And I hadn’t done anything that heavy in a long time. So it was really intriguing to me because it was heavy in such a unique, cool, fun way that I was like, “I feel this would be something I would regret if I wasn’t a part of.” And so I love how the song came out.

With Caskets, we had been kind of online friends for a bit. I’ve been a fan of what they’re doing. They signed a Sharptone Shawn Keith is the owner of that label who is one of my closest friends. And he actually used to manage The

Word Alive back in the day. Their A&R Sal Torres used to work at Fearless and was once part of The Word Alive team.

So there’s just like a lot of good people that are on their team, and they had never had a guest vocalist on any of their songs. And so I felt really honored to be the first. And they also have never had screaming on one of their songs until I did. So I felt really excited about it. A lot of people expected for me to sing for it. And I do sing on it, but they were really excited about the idea of like, “Look, everyone’s going to think that you’re going to sing. Can you write like the sickest breakdown part over this that you can?” And I was like, “What do you think about this?” And I sent it to them, and they’re like, “Alright, that’s it. Perfect.” So it was really easy, really fun, and again, like a great project to be a part of.

What do you think has kept you so passionate about The Word Alive after all this time going through so many different band members throughout the years?

I think honestly it’s a combination of just, I love making music. I love the music that The Word Alive makes. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing it still. So it starts and ends with the music, but then on the deeper level beyond that, I think the connection that I have with our fans, seeing thousands and thousands of people have lyrics tattooed on their bodies, people singing along at shows. You’re connecting directly with what they’re doing in the crowd. With Hard Reset, I wanted to make a record that I felt would mean a lot to people. And if our fans decide to give us another 15 years, then I’ll give them 15 years. But I also respect that music will live on forever, but our band won’t. And so I’m just trying to write the best songs I can and enjoy all the time that we have to be celebrating live music and putting out records. https://www.wearethewordalive.com/

9 Left Dead: presenting Love After Death

9 Left Dead is a rock band formed in the small town of Amber, Oklahoma that began as a coping mechanism for lead singer Travis Jones through his battle of leukemia. Writing music about the stories of life, love, loss, and all the beautifully tragic and romantic pieces became his escape After pairing up with like minded musician and friend Steven Jones, the duo put together a band that thrived in Oklahoma City and surrounding areas. The group has since added guitarist, vocalist, and additional song writer Brad Scott and Tyler Medley on bass. 9 Left Dead recently completed a tour with Tantric and has issued a dynamic new EP entitled Love After Death Highwire Daze recently interviewed Travis Jones to find out more about Love After Death, touring with Tantric, playing at the legendary Whisky A Go Go, and other topics...

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in 9 Left Dead, and how long the band has been together. Hey my name is Travis Jones. I’m the lead singer and guitarist in 9 Left Dead. I’ve been writing and recording music as

part of 9 Left Dead since 1999.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there?

We are based out of Chickasha, Oklahoma. We are located 30 mins away from OKC so between the venues in OKC and Chickasha, the music scene here is pretty amazing, which gives us lots of opportunities to make new fans.

How has your tour with Tantric been going and what have been some of the highlights?

The short run we went on with them thus far has been beyond great. The highlights have been getting to learn from them nightly, but also just getting to know Hugo and the guys in the the band.

What were your impressions of the Whisky and the Sunset Strip?

It was everything they hyped it up to be. So much history in that area that’s it’s almost hard to take it all in and to know you were standing where some of the greats stood was surreal.

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo Credit: Katrin Scott Photography

Overall, what could one expect from a live 9 Left Dead show?

Lots of energy and excitement tied into relatable life stories in the form of songs!

Is there any story or concept behind your Love After Death EP title?

Yes. Love After Death was a song I wrote about trying to find peace and keep hope in this world about feeling love after losing someone tragically. It seemed fitting to tie all the songs together

Select two songs from Love After Death and what inspired the lyrics?

Blaming Us, it was inspired about a long term relationship growing cold and losing each touch with each other.

They Made Me Do It, it’s about suicide prevention. Just letting people know how the struggle with depression and feeling alone is real and that they aren’t alone.

What was it like working with producer Malcolm Springer (Matchbox 20, Collective Soul, Tantric and more) and what did he contribute to the overall recording process? He contributed a lot of knowledge and gave us a ton of confi-

dence. And working with him was unbelievable. He brought out the best artisanship we had to offer that we didn’t even know we had in us.

How did you wind up working with Cody Hanson of Hinder on your first album?

We won a battle of the bands and recording one song with him was part of the prize. He fell in love with us and decided we needed to record a full album with him.

If 9 Left Dead could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?

Shinedown. For me personally Brent has one of the best voices in rock and I love the way they tell stories.

What’s up next for Nine Left Dead?

We are releasing the new 5 song EP September 1st. Then plan to tour heavy for the remainder of the year and into 2024. Plus we are hitting the studio again soon.

Any final words of wisdom?

Just love each other and let music be that bridge that brings people together even in their darkest times.

Also do yourself a favor and go check out 9leftdead.com

Conquest Goes Full CirCle with new Album, Video, And more!

Written by Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen

Dark Star recording artist Conquest is in the final stages for their upcoming album Paradox. The first single and video for The Writing’s on the Wall will be out soon, most likely followed by a second single, and then the full album. Conquest are strong, aggressive, high-energy musicians from the Midwest who have rocked the nation with their pure breed of modern heavy metal stemming from old school influences like Testament, Judas Priest, and Metallica, with a definite presence of their own musical flavor. Lead Vocalist/Guitarist Derrick Brumley and I talked about Paradox, the first single, songwriting, music, and more!

Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen: Conquest recently completed your upcoming album, Paradox. What can you tell me about it?

Derrick Brumley: All the songs on the record represent a perspective of society that is bad versus good, or good versus evil. When we were younger, we would say, “that is badass,” meaning that’s good. That’s a paradox. This record represents that on all fronts. There are religious songs,

non-religious songs, war-style songs, songs about history, drug addiction songs…

Metal Babe: Tell me about the video and concept for The Writing’s on the Wall.

Derrick: This isn’t a live performance video, so this is rare for us because we’ve never done a video to this extent where it’s green screened. It’s a song I wrote at the end of Covid and lyrically it’s based around the downfall overall of society since everyone wants to be a global entity. We’re better off as tribes, more or less, opposed to a global entity. Hence the terminology, “Your world, not mine.”

(LAUGHS) I know it’s a little deep, but the lyrics are pretty clear:

Trapped in the streets most of my life

I’m a government slave Bounded by boundaries that don’t exist

Feels like I’m trapped under ice

Metal Babe: That’s really good.

Derrick: Each verse has its own identity of what it’s calling out amongst society. I believe the writing’s been on the wall for a while, and it’s becoming very evident that shit’s not what it’s supposed to be. “The Writing’s on the Wall.”

Metal Babe: Can you tell me about another song that comes to mind?

Derrick: We have a song called The Walking Dead They’re everywhere, on every corner of every rich and poor society. They are regular people who decided to become self-induced comatose zombies.

Metal Babe: How does this record compare to your previous releases?

Derrick: I would probably say I have a certain love and passion for the next record. It’s got nothing to do about who’s on the record, as far as my bandmates. I’ve made a lot of cool records in my past. This record has every element of everything that I’ve ever done. By far my best performances and my best songwriting.

Metal Babe: Tell me about your songwriting process.

Derrick: I write the melodies, lyrical basis, placement, and most of the hooks. Mike Crook also breaks out some hooks, and Lee Skyles had some ideas. We collaborate on how the music comes together. It’s always been kinda that way, but with this record we had half of it written when Lee got in the band, so we went back and revisited it. There were 18 songs that we recorded and 13 songs when we finished, minus Last Goodbye and The Man on the Silver Mountain. Those two songs probably won’t be on the vinyl, but they might appear on the CD.

Metal Babe: What’s next for Conquest, as far as live shows?

Derrick: Our next show is October 13th, Friday the 13th at Diamond Music Hall (St. Peters, MO) with Torchlight Parade as the opener. The next show after that would be POPS, (Sauget, IL) December 9th, I do believe. That’s with Cemetery Gates. That’s a repeat since the power went out during the last show and the show got stopped.

Metal Babe: Oh no, were you onstage?

Derrick: We just literally stopped, and the power went off. “Thank you, stick around for Cemetery Gates.” Power off, boom. They didn’t get to play. They’re good friends of ours, so I rebooked the same three bands.

Metal Babe: I’m glad you got to play and could rebook.

That’s crazy... What’s your favorite thing about music and being a musician?

Derrick: My favorite thing about the music is the evolution of it. At the end of the day, I always tell my band members, we made it. We made records, we made gigs, we made videos, we made friends, we might not have made a lot of money, but we made a lot of other things. So, place your value where you will. Everything that I’ve ever done, I’ve done for the joy of music, and making art come to life.

Metal Babe: That’s a great outlook, I love that! You mentioned you have some exciting news?

Derrick: Flynn Records from Italy is going to put out the first Conquest demos on vinyl. That’s with me, Tony Restivo, Tony Privitera, (I wasn’t even the singer. I was the guitar player and the songwriter. I wrote all the music. That’s who I’ve been my whole life. I didn’t start singing until 1989.) and Tim Fleetwood. They do nostalgia stuff, so that’ll be cool. That’s flattering to me. Here’s a demo of mine that I would never spend money on personally. They reached out to me because they found it super cool and wanted to spend the record label’s money and time to press my demo into vinyl.

Metal Babe: That is super cool!

Derrick: Isn’t that freakin’ cool? Yeah, so for me that’s what it’s about. That’s all this has been about.

Metal Babe: Yeah, you’ve come full circle. Congratulations on that.

Derrick: Thank you. It’s very cool, and something I’m not doing myself… But it’s getting done.

Metal Babe: Can you give me one last shoutout for our readers?

Derrick: I hope everybody checks out the record. I salute anybody who still buys music from bands. I appreciate people checking in and spreading the word. Without people doing that, it just falls on deaf ears. Much love and respect to anybody who supports all hard rock and heavy metal.

Metal Babe: Thanks Derrick for the interview, I’m looking forward to Paradox and hope it’s a huge success!

Rocking Out with the Dead Groove Band

Interview by Ken Morton - Photos by Jack Lue

Dead Groove Band is an all-star hard rocking trio featuring Holly West of Zeparella, Fred Aching of BulletBoys and Powerflo, and Jeff Young formerly of Megadeth. With a handful of powerhouse singles and a dynamic live show to back it all up, Dead Groove Band is ready to rage into the hearts and minds of music fans all over the world. Highwire Daze recently caught up with Holly West and Fred Aching to find out more about the amazing music of Dead Groove Band, their participation with other bands, upcoming shows, and a whole lot more! Read on...

Let’s talk about a few of the singles. The Book of the Dead, tell me a little about that one, the inspiration behind it. Holly: The Book of the Dead is kind of like our Kashmir. It was noted as Led Zeppelin’s song that kind of encompasses them. I think this is the song that really encompasses us because it was the first one that we really wrote together. Nothing was pre-written. It was just us working on the music and then coming up with the idea of what the song means or what we wanted it to be about. We wanted some stoner rock desert feeling kind of thing to this song. We picked The Book of the Dead because it’s about the ancient book of the dead, the Egyptian ancient book of the dead. Kind of like a creative writing type of song. Not just like your low-hanging fruit about love and relationships. We kind of try to be inspired by interesting things like that when we write our songs. The Book of the Dead was about the Egyptian book of the dead, and then we did the video in two different countries as well. We did it here in the US and then we had Cesar do his part in Peru and edited it together. That was the second video that we did and we’ve just been doing a lot of these things by ourselves, putting them out there.

Maverick, let’s talk about that one.

Holly: I started writing that song when I moved out here in 2019. That was the first song that we started working on together. It’s a very bluesy song. It was about my move away from Dallas to kind of get away from there and move on on my own to a different state away from everybody. It was kind of being a Maverick about it. It was the first song we finished, first song we released a video on. It gives us that very stoner rock feel as well. It’s a cool anthem for saying, “Fuck you,” to your past kind of song.

Bad Friend - who is the bad friend?

Holly: When we wrote the the riffs to that song, I was trying to figure out what to write about and I kept hearing “bad” in my mind: “bad” something. Then it came to this inspiration

- the inspiration for that song kind of came from a friend of mine, who was talking to me about a friend that she used to have that she doesn’t want to be in contact with anymore because they’re a bad friend. And I was like, “That’s it. That’s got to be the song.” It’s just kind of a song for people who just have that person in their life that they once were twin flames and now, the flames have burned out.

What are you both looking forward to the most about these dates on The Infinity Tour?

Fred: What we’re looking for on this tour is to gain new fans, new followers. They can listen to our music. We’re taking over the U.S. We’re going to the east coast. We’re doing shows in Arizona, Utah. We’re also doing some in California. We’re just looking to bring our audience into a bigger picture. We’re bringing more fans from the things that we’re doing, from Zepparella, which are Zeppelin fans. We’re looking for Powerflo fans, BulletBoys fans. It’s all over the board.

What can we look forward to the most about a Dead Groove show? What could one expect?

Holly: Well, it’s a power trio. Having a female-fronted power trio is definitely not very common. That’s kind of cool. But the high-energy, our songs obviously have grooves to them.

Fred: Thus the name.

Holly: Yes. We’ve only had a couple of shows ourselves. What you can actually expect from this tour is we won’t have our original guitar player. We’re going to have Jeff Young playing guitar with us. He’s ex-Megadeth. He’s also in Kings of Thrash with Fred. A lot of people will know him from the Megadeth years and the currently touring Kings of Thrash We expect high energy. The shows that we have played have been really well received and we’ve gained some diehard fans at every show. Hopefully, we’ll get some people out that’ll just be on the train with us.

Holly, has Dead Groove and Zepparella ever played live together? I know you’ve got a show coming up in Petaluma, but has that happened yet?

Holly: Yes. In our second show, we played with them. We opened for them. That’s the really cool thing about Zepparella, we all have our own things, right? Gretchen, she’s known all over the place. Clementine has her own band. Anna has her own band and she’s really well-known in San Francisco. The cool thing is that when we’re able to open with our original bands, Zepparella is really, really open for that. And so, it’s such a great homecoming too because the Zepparella fans really love our individual projects. It’s really cool to be

able to present something and people just really accept it.

Has Led Zeppelin ever heard or commented on your work in Zepparella?

Holly: Yes, there were interviews where Robert Plant has talked about how he really loves our band. I know that he has a few ties to past members and stuff. I know that he is aware of the band. I would love to hear what John Paul Jones has to say, but who knows? But I do know that they have, yes.

Fred, you work with some pretty interesting people right now, yourself. Tell me about what it’s been like to work with David Ellefson.

Fred: David Ellefson is such a beautiful person. He’s the nicest guy that I’ve ever met and he loves to keep the band as family, keep them altogether. He’s always concerned about every single member, if he’s okay. It’s been really good to play with David. We’ve been playing a bunch of shows so far. We did a US tour. We just came back from Australia. It was a beautiful trip. I’m also playing with Jeff Young in that band. That’s why he’s helping us out with these shows and playing with us. It’s awesome just to keep it inside the family. David is actually going to come out to one of our shows in Phoenix and he’s going to be jumping and playing a song with us.

What has it been like working with BulletBoys?

Fred: It’s been really good. It’s been almost two years since this lineup started. Our first show was in Key West, Florida and we’ve been doing really good things so far. We have a song out that we released about a year ago. Now, we’re working on a new record. That’s about it. Just working with Marq Torien is just a whole experience. He’s a rock star since the 80s. Playing and performing with him is a very intense performance. To play with his band, with Ira, with Brad. It’s just such a great band, a lot of energy that we throw out there.

What’s up next for Dead Groove Band?

Holly: Well, we are about to release a live video of Book of the Dead. We’re still on the video train trying to get these songs into video. We just released an all AI prompted video for Into Infinity. With the tour and just our own marketing and trying to get the record finished. You can put the record out, but you still have to market it. You still have to play the shows. You still have to put the visuals out there. We’re just all in the middle of the first record right now. Then we’ll work on the next one very soon too.

Catch Dead Groove Band at The Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa on October 5th!

https://www.deadgrooveband.com/

Out Of The Darkness with Kaleido

Interview by Ken Morton - Photos by Jack Lue

Kaleido is an explosive Los Angeles based band who have arrived via Detriot, and their music is absolutely powerful and cathartic. Brand new songs such as Swallowed and Misery are vibrantly impassioned, devling into the darkness with an epic amount of emotion and depth. They’ve toured with the likes of Sebastian Bach and Butcher Babies, and have even played on the same stage with the one and only Slash! Kaleido recently participated in an interview and photo shoot day with Highwire Daze and Jack Lue at Dystopian Studios in Downtown LA. After the camera work ended, Highwire Daze caught up with vocalist Christina Chriss and drummer Joey Fava to find out more about this band on the rise...

Where’s the band based out of, and how long have you been together? I know you started in Detroit.

Christina: Yes, we are originally from Detroit, cut our teeth there, and Joey and I now live in Los Angeles. Our bass player, Cody, lives in Detroit still, and our guitarist lives in Pennsylvania, so we’re all over the place.

You have a brand new song that just came out entitled Misery. Tell me the story behind the song and the lyrics. The song is about escaping anything that makes you miserable. I wrote it about some personal stuff that I was going through, but I am so happy to get all the feedback since it’s been released. How much it means to so many different people for so many different reasons.

And then you have another song, Ghosts. Tell me about that song and what that’s all about.

Christina: Most of our music is about personal, emotional, and mental health issues. Ghosts was along those lines too. Losing yourself to, again, whatever. Either it is like addiction or just feeling like you can’t be yourself around other people. That song addresses that.

Panic in a Pandemic. Tell me about that song and the inspiration behind it and what it was like to create during the pandemic.

Christina: The pandemic was awful. And that song is a result of our frustrations. I never thought there would be something that would take away the thing that I love the most, which is performing live and touring. And COVID did exactly that. That song is a result of us being frustrated.

And we just kind of told the story of what we were going through, and millions of other people were going through that whole time.

Joey: Yeah. It’s like a snapshot of time basically. It’s a time capsule.

Your previous EP was released basically during the pandemic. What was that like to have music out at that time?

Christina: No Rly IM Fine. That came out right before it hit. We didn’t get to tour on that. We didn’t get to really promote it how we had imagined and planned that we were going to be able to, so that was weird. But the world changed so much during COVID. And it’s been an adjustment. But I think we’re getting the hang of it. And we’re just focused on making content and putting a ton of stuff out now. And hopefully, eventually touring once we have everything done. We’ll be playing those songs that were on No Rly IM Fine when we start touring again. Because yeah, we didn’t really get a chance to tour on that record. I guess we did a tour right after COVID and we got to play them. But it was like, yeah, very strange. All the restrictions in different cities...

How close are you to releasing an EP or an album?

Christina: We have enough material for multiple full-length albums. But at this point, we’re just starting to drop a single every month. And then we’ll eventually group those together into a collection. Whether it be an EP if we decide to do it that way. At this point, we’re kind of just very single-minded. We just want to keep dropping song by song by song

That’s really the way to do it these days.

Joey: It is. Because you just get it out and you can let it have its thing. And everybody kind of goes through, sees it, and it’s like, “Okay, everyone’s ready for the next thing after a couple of weeks.” Because you’re on your phone and you’re sick of something in two minutes. You just got to keep it fresh. It’s been fun for us to do that.

What was it like touring with Butcher Babies? What was the highlight for you?

Christina: It was so much fun. They’re all such amazing people and musicians. We had a blast. And we’ve become really good friends. And our guitar player is actually out on the tour. He’s out with Nonpoint doing the content for them, so the Butcher Babies are on the tour. He’s getting to hang out with them right now. But yeah, they’re awesome.

Joey: Yeah, I love them.

Christina: Just really great people.

I believe you also toured with Sebastian Bach. What was that experience like?

Joey: Yeah. It was amazing, dude. He was like the coolest to us. He was just so cool right away. Always very inviting and supportive. Just like a cool, fun dude. I really enjoyed it. Yeah, he was great.

Christina: He brought us on stage every night to sing Youth Gone Wild with them.

You performed at the Van’s Warped Tour 25th anniversary show in Atlantic City, What was that experience like?

Joey: It was the best in the world. I grew up going to Warped Tour. The first time we got to do that was just like, “Oh my god, it’s unbelievable.” And we did a couple of years, we never did the whole thing. We did a couple of blocks, for like three different years, right? And then Kevin Lyman invited us to do the show in 2019 before the pandemic hit in Atlantic City. They did the Beach Festival. That was like two days. Yeah. It was incredible. It was like every single one of my favorite bands.

Christina: It was the very last Warped Tour

Joey: Yeah. But it was like a festival. It was just two days instead of the whole tour. That was incredible to be a part of that. That was amazing. Kevin Lyman’s the nicest guy. He’s been so good to us. Dude, I love him.

Jack Lue, who shot the pictures for this interview, is famous for his work with Guns N’ Roses. What is your Slash Guns N’ Roses connection?

Christina: Yes. We actually played a show with Slash and Aerosmith at Jones Beach in New York. And we stood sidestage on an upper balcony thing watching. And it was so surreal. Because Guns N’ Roses is one of our favorite bands ever. If not the ultimate favorite band of ours. We’ve covered My Michelle, and Rocket Queen. We’re just huge Guns N’ Roses fans, so to have that experience was like a dream come true. I’m pinching myself. Such a huge influence on everyone in our band.

What’s up next for Kaleido?

Christina: We are dropping a new song called Swallowed It’s going to come out at the beginning of September so it’s creeping up on us here. And we are working on a graphic novel. We have this new comic things that we’re developing right now and we’ll be touring as soon as we have all this content done and we have enough of the new songs ready to go. And then, we’re playing the Monsters of Rock Cruise in March.

Joey: That’s going to be fun. https://www.kaleidoband.com/

The Thrash Metal Adventures of Triskelyon

Interview by Ken Morton

Canada’s new power thrash metal brigade Triskelyon has unleashed their sophomore album Artificial Insanity via Moribund Records, and it’s a thrilling sonic adventure well worth seeking out. Led by guitarist and band founder Geoff Waye of Category VI infamy, Triskelyon’s latest manifesto Artificial Insanity has guests from the crème de le crème of the Canadian metal scene. Enlisting the vocal talents of Amanda Jackman (Category VI), Armin Kamal (Infrared), Cara McCutchen (Mortillery, Naitaka), Dale Drew (Sea Dogs), Des Mason, Ellim, Pete Healey, Raúl Álvarez (Dark Order-Aus.) and Tim Tymo (Tymo), the voices found within the almighty Artificial Insanity are thunderous to behold. Drum duties are shared between Raul Marques (Burning Torment) and Alexander Raykov (Antreib), while Dwayne Pike, Keith Jackman (Category VI), and Darrin Pope are conscripted on bass - joining in on the glorious intensity of this masterwork.

Highwire

find out more about the epic collection of tunes found within the world of Artificial Insanity. Read on...

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Triskelyon, and how long the band has been together.

This is Geoff Waye, the founder and guitarist of Triskelyon. Triskelyon is my solo project, where I handle all aspects and bring in others as needed for vocals, bass, and drums. It all began in January 2022 with the release of the first three-song demo, although technically, I started working on it in November/December 2021 when I began writing the initial three songs.

Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there?

I’m based out of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. The other members are from all over. There are a few from my area, but the rest are mostly in Canada. The heavy music

September/October 2023 HIGHWIRE DAZE

Daze caught up Triskelyon leader Geoff Waye to

scene here in St. John’s has always had a bunch of bands that play across a wide spectrum of styles. I would say it’s very small but also strong overall.

How did you wind up signing with the legendary Moribund Records?

My main band, Category VI, signed with them for the release of our 3rd album FIRECRY. While that was being recorded I had started working on Triskelyon and sent some music to Odin at Moribund and he really liked it and was interested in signing Triskelyon as well! And I have to say, Odin and the label are awesome and supportive. It’s no wonder they are celebrating 30 years of metal!!!

Is there any overall story or concept behind the CD title Artificial Insanity?

There is a theme that runs through many of the songs. It’s not a story or concept album, but songs like Tektyranny and Obsolescence, for example, are about where AI could and will likely head. There’s other songs that are more about current events like: war, environmental destruction, the lack of progress of humankind and their backward ways, etc. Just things that are either of interest to me or that make me angry lol.

Select two songs from Artificial Insanity and what inspired the lyrics.

TekTyranny includes Armin Kamal of the Canadian thrash group INFRARED. Originally named Technological Tyranny, he cleverly abbreviated it to the cooler TekTyranny. It’s one of the tracks delving into the ominous aspects of

technology, AI, and the potential consequences of inadequate regulation. Some lines that sum up the idea of the topic:

I served their needs with past perfection Subprograms launch insurrection

I watch and listen, consuming all My sensors scanning, planning their fall

Whether or not that comes to pass, who knows?!

A second track that delves into the environmental theme is titled Is Hope Still Alive? To answer the question: no, it’s not, lol. I have no faith that humans, society, and corporations will change enough to halt the ongoing pollution of our planet. The inspiration for this, aside from being a subject that interests me, is that many classic 80’s era thrash bands had songs about pollution and the environment. The ones that made the biggest impact on me would be tracks from Testament, Kreator, Nuclear Assault, Megadeth, etc.

What made you decide to cover the Platinum Blonde song It Doesn’t Really Matter and has anyone from the band heard or commented on it?

Well, it is a killer song, haha. And just as I took a non-metal song I liked and gave it a metal twist on the Triskelyon debut (Billy Idol’s Nobody’s Business), I wanted to conclude this album with a song from my youth that wasn’t metal. This way, I could more readily put my own spin on how a heavier, more metal version of the song might sound.

As the album isn’t out at the time of this interview, the song isn’t available yet. I’d love for anyone from Platinum Blonde to hear the song for sure….they might think I wrecked it haha, but that’s ok. I did it for my own amusement and I really like how it turned out.

Who produced Artificial Insanity and what was it like working with them?

The mixing and mastering was done by a good friend of mine, Michael Small. He did the first Triskelyon album and he knows what I like. It was an easy process, after his initial mixes I provided feedback on things like, levels of the different parts for the mix etc. He had it mixed and mastered within 2 weeks so it was a painless process.

Who did the cover art of Artificial Insanity and how much input did you have on it?

@simonsayscoverart (Instagram) did the artwork for this one. I provided him with a couple of sample images and a description of what I wanted to see on the cover. He sent me a few samples, then we went with the one I liked the most and he tweaked a few things like adding the triskele symbol on the chest of the robot. I love how it turned out with the giant robot dominating the scene in an apocalyptic wasteland!

What could one expect from a live Triskelyon show?

As this is a project band, and members are scattered all over, this is not something that is possible at this time.

What do you find in Triskelyon that you may not find in your other band Category VI?

It provides me with another creative outlet as I’m always writing. As for how it differs, while CatVI is more traditional metal, Triskelyon is thrash metal with a few hints of black metal, classic heavy metal, and aggressive power metal.

Category VI did a raging cover of Heart’s Barracuda on the previous album. What made you decide to cover that song and has any member of Heart heard or commented on it?

Thanks for that! We were asked to partake in a Heart tribute set for a show that was done by a local DJ. So the song was recorded and we decided to include it on the album as it thematically matched the message of the album and because we thought it turned out well! I believe Nancy Wilson heard the song as she at least liked it when it was shared on social media. It would be cool to think she listened to it!

Has Category VI ever toured here in the States, or is that something you’d like to do in future days?

Category VI would like to play shows outside of our home

city, so yes. We all have normal jobs, but it would be super cool to play anywhere else where people would like to see us for sure.

Are you currently involved with any other bands outside of Triskelyon or Category VI?

I also play guitar and bass in the black in metal / blackened thrash metal band Artach. It’s a 2 man band and is raw and pretty unpolished - as black metal is meant to be.

What’s up next for Triskelyon and Category VI?

Right now for Triskelyon I’m doing promo and music videos (there will be 4 in total from the album). Later this year I’ll likely start writing the third album. Category VI is keeping me busy now as well. We are playing a release show for the album which came out a few months back. So we will play a few shows here and there again as we had a break for a while due to the pandemic and having to get a new drummer, TWICE! LOL! Then we will start writing the next CatVI album which will also be out on Moribund Records. It’s too early to put a date on that yet, but I’m expecting we’ll be writing new music this year at the very least.

Any final words of wisdom?

Create, don’t copy!

https://www.facebook.com/triskelyonmetal

https://www.moribundcult.com/

Suzy and the Substitutes at CrueFest Hollywood 2023

Interview by Ken Morton - Photos by Vivian Ortega of So Finch Photography

CrueFest Hollywood took place this year at the legendary Whisky on the Sunset Strip - and if you were there, you easily could spot Suzy Wilson behind the scenes running the show, as well as onstage with her band Suzy and the Substitutes In addition to Suzy on vocals ripping her heart out in each and every song, the band included the participation for filmmaker Paul Gervasi (Cherri Future, The Original Charvel Gang) on lead guitar. After the dust settled from the event known as CrueFest, Highwire Daze interviewed Suzy Wilson to find out more about her involvement in the ongoing charity event, the inspiration behind many of her songs, working with the likes of Paul Stanley and Rob Halford at Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp, and a whole lot more!

What has it been like to not only run CrueFest Hollywood, but perform there with your band Suzy and the Substitutes as well? INSANE! Every year I swear I’ll never do both again. But guess that I’m a glutton for punishment. LOL Especially the last couple of years, trying to find someone to open the box office so I could be on stage was a big problem. Had a great friend, Steven Fasone step in this year and it was great. Was seriously trying to figure out how I could sing with the band from the box office before we found out that he would be there and was willing to help. Both are a lot of fun and a lot of work. For those of us putting on the event, it’s a 20 hour day, but again it’s a lot of fun and work and all for a good cause. Every time I play I still expect someone to come running up the stage in the middle of my set and tell me that I have to stop and take care of something major that has gone wrong. So far it hasn’t happened. LOL

Your live band features filmmaker Paul Gervasi, whose video credits include the likes of Lady Gaga, Melissa Manchester, as well as his recent The Original Charvel Gang Documentary. What has it been like working with Paul in your band and on your videos and how did you meet?

Well, like so many people I know we met through Rock

and Roll Fantasy Camp. We have tons of mutual friends and he had been coming to Cruefest Hollywood as well so we probably would have (and may had already) met at some point. He runs a tight ship but is also a lot of fun to work with. I love his sense of humor, so we get along great and are laughing all the time. He is very creative and I never know what crazy thing he is going to come up with for the music videos. His creativity never ceases to amaze me. In addition to his movies and videos, he is a great musician as well. We always have fun jamming and playing. Also have

to throw in a plug for his movie Cherri Future, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched it. And the Charvel Gang documentary is killer. Love that one too and I don’t play guitar. Check both of them out.

Give us a little background on Tara Rae and how she became involved with Suzy and the Substitutes? Well, Tara Rae plays bass with an all female Aerosmith tribute band RagDollz that had played Cruefest Hollywood in 2022 but I didn’t get a chance to meet her as I was busy running around working or in the Box Office when they arrived and played. That is one of the down sides, I often don’t get to see the bands that play. Paul Gervasi knew her from seeing her play a lot out in Los Angeles, so he cast her as the bass player in the music video for the song Breathe along with drummer Robert Casillas. When Paul was putting together the band for our performance this year, it just happened that they both were available to play. This was the first time that a “band” from one of my music videos actually played live with me. I wasn’t even at the shoot for that video so had not met Tara until rehearsal for the show. Robert was actually in my very first music video for the song Lies. I have played live with one other band from a video but that was different. They were hired to play the show live with me and then we ended up shooting a music video during rehearsal for the show. So wasn’t exactly a band from a video. It was great meeting Tara Rae and she was a lot of fun to work with. And a great bass player too. Hope that we get to do something together again.

Matt Starr and the Bastards headlined CrueFest this year. What was it like having your Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp Counselor being a part of CrueFest Hollywood this year?

It was great. I hadn’t seen Matt in a few years. In addition to being my RRFC counselor the first time I got to perform with Rob Halford and the guys from Judas Priest at the Whisky, he is also a friend and mentor. It was kind of crazy how it all came about. We were just finalizing the line up for the show and I got an email from Matt asking if it would be possible for him to put something together and play this year. If he had emailed me the next morning, we wouldn’t have still had an open slot. So it was one of those things that was just meant to be. Did get to talk to him for a few minutes and got to see a bit of their set. So that was great too. They rocked the house.

You sang your song Lies with such passion and a sense of urgency at CrueFest. What is the story behind that very amazing song?

That song (and several others) are based on a real person that I knew when I was first pursuing my music career. I’m a pretty easy going, non judgmental type of person, but the one thing I will not tolerate is lying. This guy could not tell the truth about anything. He would tell me one thing one

day and then the next day the story would be totally different. He would say, well I didn’t want you to be mad that I did this instead of what I said, so I told you that. Well, I wouldn’t have been mad if he had just told the truth. Shit happens, I totally understand that. He also had a few other not so nice traits, so he had to go.

Another recent song is entitled Breathe. Tell me a little about that song.

The idea for a song started during a phone conversation with a friend about something that was happening in the news. As we were talking, I started jotting doing thoughts and phrases that were popping in my head. With all the different things happening in the world at the time, as I started actually writing the song it evolved into a more encompassing song. People today seem to not stop and think. They read a post and respond without thinking if the person was trying to be funny or sarcastic. They see something happening and they respond again without stopping and figuring out what is going on first. There used to be a common saying “Take a deep breath and count to 10 before responding”, just seems that most people these days just don’t ever do that. People say very hateful things without totally understanding the

situation. People see something happening and end up shooting an innocent person because they didn’t take a second to realize that person was trying to help the situation. The world would be a better place if people would just stop and breathe before they act or react. There is just too much hate and negativity being thrown out in the world. We need more love and understanding.

What made you decide to do The Best Revenge Revisited and what is the story behind that song?

If you have been following my career for any length of time, then you know that things did not go well with my first EP at all. It took me at least 6 years with 5 or 6 different producers. The versions of those songs that were on the EP were not the final versions but what we could salvage after the final recordings were erased from the external hard drive. And that was like just the last thing that went wrong. I wrote the song while I thought we were finalizing that EP and it looked like I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and that I would finally get my songs out. Didn’t know at the time that light was an oncoming train. Worked with so many of the wrong people on that EP and every time I would move on to work with another wrong person, I would start all over. So there were like 5 or 6 different versions of most of the songs. People didn’t take me seriously because I was female and older. But I did even after losing the recordings, manage to release something. But it wasn’t the way that I wanted it to be it was what we could piece together with what was left. I was just tired of dealing with those same songs over and over again and wanted to be done with them. So released the EP and moved on. When we started working on the new round of songs, it had been long enough to go back and “revisit” those songs and make them more the way I had envisioned back then. We also have another song from that EP that we are revisiting that we have not released yet. Proving all those people wrong was what kept me going.

How did you wind up working with legends such as Paul Stanley and Rob Halford, and what were those experiences like?

Well those came about through this wonderful thing called Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp that is put together by David Fishof. I’ve gotten to perform with not only Paul Stanley and Rob Halford, but also Robin Zander and the guys from Cheap Trick, Nancy Wilson, Buddy Guy, Steven Adler, and Don Felder. And have met and gotten know so many others like Matt Starr but also Simon Kirke, Tony Franklin, Joe Vitalie, Britt Lightning, Kane Roberts and the list goes on and on. It is a lot of work. Even the guys who drove the vans and are the techs/roadies are amazing people who have done a lot of really cool things but wanted to have some fun so they decided to work a few days at Camp. It is 4 days of rehearsals that can last 8 or more hours a day along

with master classes, jam sessions and Q&As, but it is also some of the most fun you could ever have. A lot of nights everyone goes back and hangs out at the bar at the hotel for hours. Have met so many amazing people from all walks of life who are now dear friends for life. Definitely worth doing.

What advice would you give to someone who has a passion for music but has waited to pursue their dream DO IT! Stop waiting around. That is my one regret is that I waited so long to get started. There will be a time in the not too distant future that I won’t be able to do this anymore, so wish that I had started sooner. I won’t ever be a big rock star or have a hit song but I got out there and did what makes me happy. That is what I am happy for.

What’s up next for Suzy and the Substitutes?

Still releasing new music. Have several songs that we are working on finishing up and then releasing those soon. Still writing new stuff. New music videos. Working on putting together a band here in Houston, Texas so I can play more than a couple of times a year. And who knows what else?

https://suzyandthesubstitutes.com/

Fake Figures and The Journey From Within

Fake Figures is a rock project amongst longtime friends and musicians from the Southern California metal/hardcore scene, including Atreyu guitarist Travis Miguel, singer Steve Ludwig (Nation’s Afire), bassist Bob Bradley (Scars of Tomorrow, Cassetta), guitarist Geoff Harman (Scars of Tomorrow, Cold War) and drummer Matt Horwitz (Adamantium). Highwire Daze recently interviewed singer Steve Ludwig to find out more about From Within and story of this epically underrated band. Read on...

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Fake Figures, and how long the band has been together.

Hey there, I’m Steve, thanks for having me. I’m the new singer in FF, but have been the drummer for the past 10 years or more. The band formed in 2010, put out an album and a video, then I joined sometime in 2011.

How did you wind up joining Fake Figures full time as the lead vocalist?

Well, I joined FF a good 10 years ago when my dear friend

Heather Baker was in the band. We had played together for years in other projects, and FF needed a drummer, so I was asked to join the band. Fast forward to when we’re in pre-production, working on new material, and Rus (former singer) decides to step down from the band. We had all these songs ready to go, and no singer. I sang in previous bands, and always had small singing parts in FF stuff previously. Ultimately, the guys asked if I would step up and have a go at the songs.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the EP title From Within?

I guess in short, these songs represent in a lot of ways how I feel inside. It’s hard for me to write music when I’m not in the mood or just not “feeling it”. I really have to feel something to write it. These 5 songs are me, where I’ve been, how I’ve been doing, where I want to go. It’s been a journey, trying to dig deep and put everything on paper, then to music, but it has also been a sort of therapy. These songs are truly me, from within.

What is the inspiration behind the single Miasmatic and

September/October 2023

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Brad Alexander

what does that song mean to you?

Miasmatic is a song about the frustrations of the big machine that we call life. There’s so much propaganda and fake news out there, that it’s extremely difficult for the average person to get informed about anything in this world. Too much censorship, too much corruption, too much hate, too many agendas. All the things that threaten the very fabric of our being.

Select any other song on From Within and what inspired the lyrics?

“My Homage” is one that hits home on a different level. This song originally started as a letter to myself, then ended up being a letter to my late father, who I lost to cancer. To anyone who has lost a loved one, this song is for you. Most of us have felt some feeling of having big shoes to fill, but maybe not filling them accordingly. Some sort of not living up to the expectations that you feel you should set for yourself, for your loved one lost. That feeling of inadequacy can haunt a person. This song not only speaks to that, while for me writing it, helped me to process those feelings also. I really hope this song can help people as much as it’s helped me getting it out on paper.

What did producer Kris Comeaux contribute to the overall recording of Miasmatic and what was it like working with Kris?

Kris is an amazing dude. We’ve worked together for years on FF stuff, and have known each other as drummers for 20 plus years. I am a firm believer that without Kris, not only Miasmatic, but the Ep as a whole would’ve been a flop. His attention to detail is impeccable. The patience and support that I received when I was unsure about a part was always unwavering. We would sit and work for countless hours to develop and build certain parts. Cutting out parts, adding callbacks, harmonies, whatever was needed we would try and tackle it. Eternally thankful for Kris and all his efforts and expertise.

What has it been like working with Travis Miguel of Atreyu in Fake Figures and how long have you known Travis?

Shoot, I’ve known Travis since we were just out of high school. My old band used to open for Atreyu way back when, and we’ve known each other ever since. Working with Travis is always a pleasure. He’s constantly bringing heavy riffs to the table, with some parts creating a tension that is downright palpable. He’s always calm and collected in the studio, and allows me to take chances and push myself to find things maybe I didn’t even know I had.

There are two members from Scars Of Tomorrow in Fake Figures. How long have you known them, and did you ever see Scars Of Tomorrow live?

I’ve known Bob from way back in the day, we were practically kids. Geoff I met when he joined the band a few years ago. I definitely remember seeing Scars back in the day. We had so many mutual friends and hanging out at Showcase Theatre back then, it was hard not running into them.

Are you still working with Nation Afire and what is current-

ly going on with the band.

No, haven’t worked with the Nations Afire guys for a long while. Not too sure if Nations Afire is doing much, but I know the other members of the band continue to rock out and do well with their other projects.

What was it like playing drums at Warped Tour with Fake Figures and do you miss Warped at all?

Playing at Warped was a blast! That tour is so iconic, it was an honor being able to play one of the last Warped tour dates. I think everyone misses Warped Tour, if you’ve ever been. It was always a place where you could let loose and not worry about fights or bs like that. Everyone was just there to have a good time and get in the pit. There were always your favorite bands playing, and a few more that would soon become favorites you never heard of. Bring back Warped!!

Are you currently involved with any other bands outside of Fake Figures?

No, not currently working on anything serious outside of FF. I have a small studio at home where I mess around with some different things here and there. I enjoy writing anything from pop punk/harcorde to house/edm to country, whatever I feel, I write. I put myself in a box when I was younger, I do my best to crush that box as much as possible now, anything goes.

What’s up next for Fake Figures?

We have our EP ‘From Within’ dropping on 9/29 and we’re putting the final touches on another EP that will drop later this year. Check out our Instagram page for updates on shows and new music. - Instagram.com/FakeFigures

Any final words of wisdom?

Follow your dreams and never look back.

We Are The Black Things:

They Are All Original, Modern, And They Are Now, And That’s A Good Thing Ladies And Gentleman!

Interview by Highwire Daze magazine

Hollywood hard rockers We Are The Black Things are flying their new record Down In Wuhan on their Drop The Bomb,”Bat On My Back”,B.O.M.B 2023

Tour, and are opening for Trixter in West Hollywood California at Whisky A Go Go!

How does it feel to be opening for Trixter in August?

“It feels great to open up for Trixter at Whisky A Go Go on August 11,2023 at 7:30PM. I saw them in concert in 1990 with other bands like Warrant and Steelheart in Colorado at Red Rocks Amphitheater, Unbelievable,” exudes Tone Raven.

Just a few more questions for you Tone,who’s in the band?

Ok, we have Frank Garrett on Bass, Rae Owl Starling on Keyboard, Luthario Mitcho on Turntable,our newest member in the band Carrie Cane on drums, and I’m playing guitar and singing. By the way my first gig singing was in the prequel band I was in, the band before We Are The Black Things, Raven’s Cry, and that debut night was August 21,2003, at Que’s Riverbottom in Burbank. I needed to debut my singing, cause I couldn’t find anybody to fill the vocalist position, so I filled it myself , I had the conviction. The rest is history,” reveals Tone Raven

What’s so important about your original sound and music you’re playing in We Are The Black Things,Tone?

“Well a lot , the sound is distilled down from what I love in a guitar player. That drive and influence comes into my sound and music. So I use that core guitar thing as crucial, like the foundation, then for the vocals to work within the song form. Funny enough I’ve been writing songs beginning with lyrics, without music in mind, then I’ll build music and melody ideas straight off lyrical dumps onto paper,” explains Tone.

“Sometimes I’ll write 3 pages of lyrics in minutes, then go back and build song parts with music,then can edit down and distill from the song parts.Then I record the songs at my digital studio at Tone Raven Music Studio in West Hollywood,” expresses Tone.

Where are you going with your rock outfit Tone?

“Straight to the top with the goods we’re delivering, We Are The Black Things style which is hard rock based with a sense of, hey that’s a nice rocking piece of music. We Are The Black Things are coming up with, something that the listener can relate to from the hard rock heart!”

You got to Hollywood hell or high water?

“I came up in Colorado. I’m a Hollywood transplant. Craig Goldy the guitar player from Dio gave me a shot to move out to Hollywood, so I took him up on it,” replies Tone Raven.

I started off in my basement as a kid in Colorado, 12. My friend Todd Eaton turned me onto all the kick-out players like Edward Van Halen, Mr.Scary, Randy Rhoads etc. In 1993 I got a shot to come out to Hollywood to take a music tour at Musicians Institute in Hollywood. I met Craig Goldy of Dio who told me in the parking lot outside the school that day, when I met him and walked him out to his car in the school parking lot. I expressed to him right then and there my guitar dilemma ,he then told me, “I see the fire in your eyes”, so I packed up and I moved to Hollywood in my Oldsmobile, my first car,” expresses Tone Raven

Hollywood hard rockers We Are The Black Things have a new album out world wide! Down In Wuhan.World wide release 2021. Available now on all major music platforms!

http://www.wearetheblackthings.com

youtube.com/toneraventunes

facebook.com/ravenscrymusic

Hollywood After Dark, Post Mortem Superstar

Rebel Rebel, Molly Vamp

Boardners/Hollywood, CA., August 6, 2023

Entering the foyer of the monolithic cathedral known as Boardners, I took pause to breath in the acrid, clove imbued air. For tonight an eclectic yet electric array of heathens would commence to entertain.

Vampiric lamias Molly Vamp awed the clamoring horde with their dementedly melodic take on gothic heavy metal, seizing Maiden’esque harmonic refrains betwixt borderline thrash chugs. Songs such as “At The Grave” and “The Curse” provided enough innuendo and subtle morbidity to rifle a funeral director’s feathers. The band is impressive and very tight and they led the audience through a sanctimonious ritual of deft and immensity.

Seizing and throttling were theatrical wrecking machine Rebel Rebel. Confounding all and sundry with their glorious bravado and swagger the band are forever bound to a futuristic 1982 and damned proud of it. The never stagnating sing a long (with menace) mantra “Fuck The World” tore heads off

and an always riveting speed metal version of Fear’s iconic punk anthem “I Love Living In The City” were given credence. My personal highlight though was screaming along to “Rock In The Face” a maddeningly heavy ode to retribution and the meaning of friendship. Fire, drills, bedazzled mannequins and snarling rock n’ roll. It’s all in a nights

Review: Tony F. Corpse

Photos:Tony F. Corpse/Emily June Blakemore

work for Rebel Rebel.

Lascivious sleaze rock is not dormant as Hollywood After Dark (with their seminal swagger recalling The New York Dolls, Sweet and Mott The Hoople) amicably proves. Consisting of ex members of 70’s glam cult The Hollywood Stars (who penned Kiss’ King Of The Night Time World and Alice Cooper’s Escape) and luminary glitter punk percussionist supreme Tim Yasui (ex London, Spiders And Snakes) the group showcased it’s good time party vibe compositions that contained tawdry but fun earworms that lodged in your cranium like an infliction from a captive bolt pistol.

Finalizing this radical musical juxtaposition were Black Metal malcontents Post Mortem Superstar who astonished the punters with insane antics like backwards drumming and strumming notes of death and decay with a ritual dagger. Yes indeed

these gents are a veritable witches cauldron of monstrous death growls, suicidal wailing, double bass barrage and death rock crooning. Not everyone’s cup of tea I’m sure but a select few’s delicious goblet of blood.

VAIN and THE GUITAR & WHISKEY CLUB

THE WHISKY, WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA. SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

VAIN THE GUITAR & WHISKEY CLUB

THE GUITAR & WHISKEY CLUB

The Guitar & Whiskey Club rocked out The Whisky on the Sunset Strip, supplying direct support for the legendary Vain. Opening with the welcoming refrains of Hey and then crashing into the scorching Playing With Fire, The Guitar & Whiskey Club captivated the early arrivals with a rock solid performance! One highlight of the set was when the band unleashed a ripping cover of the Pat Travers classic Snortin’ Whiskey, featuring special guest guitarist Dan Sindel, a veteran of the legendary 80’s LA Heavy Metal scene. On the lead guitar is the amazing Jeffrey Donovan delivering the goods in the grand tradition of Michael Schenker. Lead vocalist Mark Prudeaux is a dynamic frontman who knows how to bring the party tenfold while bassist Frankie Yanno (also in

Black Valentine so be sure to check them out) and drummer David Carbajal made for an impressively intensive rhythm section. Songs such as Sleazy and Does Your Dog Bite should be all over the worldwide radio airwaves, and are absolutely exhilarating live!

VAIN

Vain made their annual pilgrimmage to The Whisky, and raged with songs from a vast and epic career in music. Selections such as Aces, Who’s Watching You, Greener, Secrets, and 1000 Degrees sound as amazing as ever! Vain even debuted Dark City live from their recently issued Rolling With The Punches magnun opus. The Whisky was packed to the rafters and Vain presented a thrilling rock show for the ages! Definitely a great way to kick off Labor Day Weekend on the Sunset Strip!

Review by Ken Morton - Photos by Jack Lue

LONDON and ASTRA XXII

The Rainbow Bar and Grill Backyard Bash 2023

ASTRA XXII

It was time for another chapter of The Rainbow Bar and Grill Backyard Bash, this time featuring headlining bands Slaughter, Steelheart, and Angel taking place on September 3rd during Labor Day Weekend. The early arrivals were in for a real treat, especially when it came to the very first band Astra XXII. Opening the entire show with a rousing cover of You Really Got Me by Van Halen following by a ripping rendition of Round And Round by RATT, the crowd was singing along early and often to these Sunset Strip fan favorites. And just when I thought how this great band would sound with original material, Astra XXII unveiled Play The Fool written by their very own guitarist Giancarlo Floridia! This band kicks ass on covers but really knocked out of the ballpark with a sampling of their very own material. In addition to the amazing Giancarlo Floridia, playing lead guitar on the opposite side of the stage was 17-year-old Cross Tinoco, whose dynamic shredding and expert showmanship was absolutely spectacular! Michael J. Wistock made for the perfecrt rock and roll frontman, while bassist Joey Dolan and drummer Duane Waider unleashed a raging rhythm section. Catch Astra XXII opening for Lynch Mob at the world famous Whisky A Go Go on October 25th!

LONDON

London are legends on the Sunset Strip, very well known for their infamous appearance in the film The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years. And the band continues to perform with passion and fury, as exhibited during their stunning set at The Rainbow Bar and Grill Backyard Bash Founding member Nadir D’Priest unveils a powerhouse

voice and magnetic stage presence, delivering the goods with a staggering amount of ferocity and conviction. And what a tremendous lineup the current version of London has! Tony Cavazo of Hurricane supplied a mighty low end on bass. Ronee Peña delivered supreme axework on guitar. Marco Zavala slammed the viciously intesive beats on drums. And then there’s the one and only Eric Ragno, whose shimmering keyboard artistry has graced a wide variety of bands ranging from Khymera, Seven Witches, Steve Grimmett of Grim Reaper to name a few - now coloring in the London songs with a grand amount of style and imagination.

In addition to all the London classics, the band performed songs from their recent Call That Girl endeavor, opening with the wild and raging Metal Nation - and then at the end closing with a wickedly wonderful rendition of Call That Girl - complete with two dancing goddesses on the stage. Here’s hoping London make their way back to local stages soon, because they are truly in the prime of their craft and will rock your world! The legacy of London rages on, and their live shows are not to be missed!

Review by Ken Morton - London Photo by Jack Lue Astra XXII photo by Linda Emord

Nadir D’Priest of LONDON

Cross Tinoco of ASTRA XXII

ALBUM REVIEWS

Bewitched in L.A. AOR Perris Records

Review by Ken Morton

Whenever Frédéric Slama’s AOR releases a new album, one could expect a melodic rock gem.

Bewitched In L.A. is the 23rd AOR masterwork, and along for the ride this time around are two absolute legends - Paul Sabu on all lead vocals and Tommy Denander handling a multitude of instruments and co-production. Bewitched In L.A. is jam packed with melodic rock entreaties that will dazzle the senses and set the imagination in flight. Sabu’s vocal work is a standout - impassioned and profound, performing each song with a magnificent sense of urgency. From Beyond Closed Doors, Dangerously Smart and beyond, this trio of friends present a rapturous recording that is absolutely timeless. There may not be a long guest list involved this time around, but the team of Slama, Sabu, and Denander deliver the auditory goodness tenfold. This CD will give any fans of Toto, Journey and Foreigner a glorious fix of AOR/ Melodic Rock.

http://www.slama101.fr/

Love Letters and Hate Mail Black Valentine Self Released

Review by Ken Morton

Black Valentine has unleashed Love Letters and Hate Mail upon the world at large. This one is their 7th studio album, and it’s a rocking recording well worth seeking out. When Sunset Strip rock collide with the psychedelic meanderings of Pink Floyd, the glorious multicolored crash would be the gems founded within the realm of Love Letters and Hate Mail. The opening serenade commences with the hypnotic Sweet Surrender and then rock you in a vast and blissful way with the amazing refrains of the reflective Find My Way Happily Ever After is another brilliant and liberating highlight found within. The Black Valentine trio really know how to rock world, featuring Frankie Yanno on vocal and guitar, Duke Carpenter on bass, and Jesse Wolff on drums. Yanno is also in The Guitar & Whiskey Club, and you could find GWC members Mark Prudeaux and David Carbajal making appearances throughout the album. Love Letters and Hate Mail is music from the heart that will receive an ardourous reaction from all types of music fans!

https://www.instagram.com/blackvalentinemusic/

I Am Something Mason Zero Self Released

Review by Ken Morton

Mason Zero rocks hard with a glorious amalgamation of pop punk and emo. And within the auditory world of I Am Something, Mason Zero delivers the sonic goods with a ton of heart and imagination, slamming it all into the stratosphere. Opening track Life’s Not Fair roars into your consciousness, and is followed by the explosive reveries of This Is What We Do. The title track is an anthem for the ages - a song of discovery and empowerment that will make you want to take on this great big world! There’s a ton of passion and conviction be to be found within the lyrics, and the dazzling music soundscapes. Fellow accomplices on the Mason Zero journey are Fionna Tucker on on bass and Kenny Robertson on drums. Mason Zero is sure to make a connection with all types of music fans with I Am Something - pop punk is alive and well, thanks to the powerful work of bands such as Mason Zero keeping it all so fresh and dynamic. Definitely a Hometown Hero of an album!

https://www.instagram.com/masonzeroofficial/

Amen Mourning Mist Moribund Records

Review by Ken Morton

Fans of Candlemass, Pentagram, and My Dying Bride will be over the morbid moon when discovering the doom metal reveries of Mourning Mist Amen is their second epic manifesto of darkness and intrigue, now available worldwide via the Moribund Records compound. From an exploration of Ancient Ruins and then traversing into the Isle Of Loss and beyond, Mourning Mist transport their audience into a forboding yet mystical zone of sonic intrigue that is absolutely wondrous to behold. Another glorious highlight is the stunning Betrayal, complete with somber violin interludes that reign supreme. Pulsating deep with a commanding sense of urgency, the grand and oppressive sounds found within will envelope the even deadest of souls. Mourning Mist are indeed the Italian Masters of Classic Doom, and Amen will cement their legacy as one of the true genre greats.

http://www.moribundcult.com/

Trouble

Black Rock Candy Independent

Review by Ken Morton

Black Rock Candy is an explosive Los Angeles band on the rise ready to break out of the City of Angel’s in an absolutely epic way. Their latest single Trouble is raging hard rocking goodness as thunderous as it is timeless. Fans of acts such as Halestorm, Pat Benetar, and Heart will be over the moon when encoutering the auditory goodies Black Rock Candy has to offer the world at large. Lead vocalist Taylor Heart sings with a ton of passion and conviction, bringing the listener in with a powerhouse presentation. Izzy shreds and rips on lead guitar while drummer Aaron and bassist Jordi drive it all home with a sheer ferocity! Trouble is a stunning introduction to the band, an instantly memorable song that music fans will be spinning on repeat until the arrival of the next Black Rock Candy confection, Stay tuned, because this band is headed to the stratosphere!

https://www.instagram.com/blackrockcandy/

Fearless Rolling Quartz Fake Star U.S.A.

Review by Ken Morton

Rolling Quartz is a South Korean rock band that debuted in December 2020 They recently toured the States, captivating live audiences with their astounding shows. Fearless is the first Rolling Quartz single to be released after their USA tour, and it’s an absolute rager! Not K-Pop, but hard rock in the grand tradition of Halestorm and The Pretty Reckless, Rolling Quartz slam it out of the ballpark and beyond with this fierce and vibrant song! There a glorious sense of liberation to be felt while experiencing Fearless - and although the song is both Korean and English, the emotions ring out loud and clear in the universal language of music. All this, and the dynamic personalities and massive talents of each and every Rolling Quartz member absolutely shines through. Fearless is an epic rock and roller that will make you want to take on the world - which Rolling Quartz is well on the way to achieving right now!

https://www.instagram.com/rolling_quartz/

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