Highwire Daze Magazine Issue #129

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MAR|APR2020

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CHE RI SHAL E XANDE R, DI ANE&T HEDE DUCT I BL E S, T HEGUI T AR&WHI SKE YCL UB, T HEHARD WA Y ,HE L D HOST AGE ,J E SSEDAMON,L OVE L YWORL D,ME L I A,T HE MI L I T ANT S,MI SSI NGPE RSONS,NI GHT MARE R,RI KF OXOFST E E L E R,ROSST HE BOSS,T HESANDGAARDF OUNDA T I ON, T HESWANSONSANDMORE . . .

HIGHWIRE DAZE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sponsored by

THE SANDGAARD FOUNDATION

Publisher Highwire Daze Magazine A General Partnership Editor-in-Chief Kenneth Morton Managing Editor Danny S. Pasley Senior Photographer Jack Lue East Coast Editor Jupiter LeeJ Contributors Kenneth Morton Bret Miller Joe Schaeffer James Grover Cover Art by Yannick d’Assignies of Smart Works INTL. Cover Photos By Jack Lue Graphic Design Tyler Heath

HIGHWIRE DAZE 827 N. Hollywood Way PMB 419 Burbank, CA 91505-2814 www.highwiredaze.com e-mail: ken@highwiredaze.com

Opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. All rights reserved. Nothing may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express and written consent of the publisher.

HIGHWIRE DAZE

March/April 2020

INTERVIEWS WITH . . .

DORO/NICK DOUGLAS .......................................................................... 10 QUEENSRYCHE ....................................................................................... 14 ROSS THE BOSS ...................................................................................... 18 HELD HOSTAGE ...................................................................................... 20 LOVELY WORLD ..................................................................................... 22 PIA FRAUS .............................................................................................. 24 SUMO CYCO ........................................................................................... 26 CHERISH ALEXANDER .......................................................................... 30 JESSE DAMON ........................................................................................ 34 THE SWANSONS .................................................................................... 36 NIGHTMARER ........................................................................................ 38 RIK FOX OF STEELER ............................................................................. 40 THE MILITANTS ..................................................................................... 41 MELIA WITH THOMAS SANDGAARD ................................................ 42 THE HARD WAY ..................................................................................... 44 SPLIT MOON ........................................................................................... 46 SUMO CYCO POSTER ........................................................................................ 28 ALBUM REVIEWS ............................................................................................... 53 CONCERT REVIEWS .......................................................................................... 50 SKETCHES BY THE EDITOR ................................................................................ 6 BRET’S RAMBLINGS ............................................................................................ 8

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Sketches by the Editor

Welcome to Highwire Daze Magazine Issue #129, presented right in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic. At press time, everything is closed, and you are either reading this on our ISSUU page online or have secured a print copy somehow. The last time I finished a magazine under these impossible circumstances was in the midst of the L.A. Riots back in 1992. Here are we, 28 years later, and it feels like the end of the world again.

So why do we need music and why do we need to read about bands at times like this? Because music makes everything better. Music brings us memories and friendships that can last a lifetime. Discovering a great new band to add to your playlist is the best feeling in the world. And now, more than ever, musicans need your help! Go online if you can and buy merch or even music files of songs and albums from your favorite artists. Watch for live streaming shows and contribute a few bucks if you can. No one is touring right now and this is how bands make their living.

At this point, who knows what the future will bring. But I remain committed to printing Highwire Daze and keeping up our ISSUU page and website. What would a world be like without music? Keep yourself healthy and safe and keep the music and the rock and roll dream alive! We will get through this pandemic and I want you all here to enjoy all the good things life has in store for us all.

And now, I want you to meet our new East Coast Editor Jupiter Lee. Jupiter is an excellent musician who I worked with on this magazine in the late 90’s/ early 00’s. Welcome back Jupiter to the staff of Highwire Daze...

In Musical Orbit by Jupiter Jupiter @Highwire Daze Online Crew - Hey everyone, this is Jupiter Lee. I started my musical career at an early age in Baltimore, Maryland and have been drumming professionally since I turned 18 years old. I’m currently playing out with my own electronic progressive band, JUPITER PROJECT. I first met Ken Morton in 1999 when he did a review of my debut CD, Jupiter Project. The magazine voted my album to be one of the top ten in addition to me being one of the top ten new artists. Some of my favorite bands are Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Ozzy Osbourne, Beatles, Dream Theater, Rush, Opeth, Queensryche, Aerosmith, Angel, King Crimson, Trent Reznor, Testament. Too many to list here.

Highwire Daze has always been at the forefront of exciting, new music. I really enjoyed being their East Coast Editor. I went on the road for quite a while and with the Carnival Cruise line for many years before settling in Baltimore and released two self-titled CD’s with my good friend, Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater). Now I am ready to return to the job as East Coast Editor. Hope to shed a light on some of the great music, venues and artists in the Delmarva area.

www.reverbnation.com/jupiterproject

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March/April 2020

HIGHWIRE DAZE

B r e t ’s R a mblings Photo: Split Moon at Park Time Punks

by Bret Miller Two shows I went to recently celebrated bands I love. Part Time Punks had their 10th Anniversary My Bloody Valentine night at The Echo and Ultimate Jam Night at the Whisky a Go Go had a night of Neil Peart and Rush songs.

The MBV night included Shaki Tavi, Highlands, Deserta and Split Moon. Three of the bands played originals plus the two expected MBV songs with Shaki Tavi solely playing MBV songs, even going to far as to play the nine minutes of noise between You Made Me Realise known as the full holocaust.

It was an amazing night of music all around. I urge you to give these bands a listen and see them live when you can. Split Moon have a new album out and the singer/guitarist from Highlands worked on it too. Split Moon’s singer/guitarist Mark Starr is interviewed in this very issue.

The Ultimate Jam Night dedicated to Rush and Neil Peart was special because Rush is notoriously challenging to play yet the many musicians that made the attempt were legends. I can’t tell you the names of the players or what bands they were from, but I can tell you there were many session players and many true talents older and younger. There were mistakes but that was fine. Just being able to hear live songs I’ve never heard Rush play except on record was a thrill, especially when the singers reached the highs of early Geddy Lee or even translated the vocals to their ranges. The passion and talent on display was dazzling and it was a joy to hear Rush played by such a diverse group of musicians for two and a half hours. And of course, I was glad to stick around to the end when Tom Sawyer was played. If you’re a fan of rock’n’roll, do yourself a favor and check out an Ultimate Jam Night on Tuesdays at the Whisky. And it’s free!

As a fan of many different bands, My Bloody Valentine and Rush are both held in the highest regard. I’ve been a fan of Rush since Moving Pictures was released and I was saddened to learn of Neil Peart’s passing. I’ll never hear Rush’s music live from the mambers ever again.

Neil was a monster drummer and the vast majority of the lyrics for the band after their S/T. He was a story teller, he wrote about his life on the road and between tours, of bicycling in Africa, driving his motorcycle through the Americas, and about Rush on tour. He loved nature and movement and art and reading and drums but he was an inrovert through and through and while he was always gra8

cious, he was also very private and thoughtful. His lyrics always spoke to me, especially the line “I can’t pretend a stranger is a long-awaited friend” from Limelight. So, we may only know Neil from his books and from his closest friends but we will always have his lyrics to remind the quiet ones they’re not alone. Neil Peart was my hero. In music and thought and I’ll forever miss him as will millions the world over.

I’m an introvert, highly sensitive and I also have tinnitus.

Which means I don’t like crowds, I get overstimulated easily and my ears ring and I’m still willing to go out in public and listen to loud rock’n’roll from the likes of My Bloody Valentine and the bands that are fans, as well as a night of excellent musicians playing the music of Rush in a small club (without earplugs, I’m ashamed to say).

Yet that’s how much I love music. In the coming months, especially May, I’ll be going to many shows and am quite excited for the Cruel World Festival. Maybe you’ll see me there? I’ll be the one passed out from exhaustion around 7pm. Hopefully I can pace myself and see all the 11 bands I plan to.

Listen to Bret’s Ramblings at Highwire Daze Radio on Live 365 Everyday 3:00PM and 11:00PM Pacific Time New Shows Every Tuesday

http://www.highwiredazeradio.net March/April 2020

HIGHWIRE DAZE

DORO PESCH Photo by Jack Lue

Doro and Nick Douglas: A 30 Year Collaboration

Interview by Ken Morton Photos by Jack Lue and Joe Schaeffer

Although the original interview with the legendary Doro Pesch and her long time bassist Nick Douglas was to focus on their upcoming show at the Rainbow Bar & Grill Backyard Bash, at press time, the event was postponed due to current world events. And while this interview was conducted way before the outbreak of Covid-19, one of the most important subjects discussed was the celebration of the 30 Year Anniversary of Nick Douglas joining forces with Doro Pesch for what would turn out to be a long and glorious colloaboration.

Here are excerpts from our interview with both Doro and Nick to discuss their journey through 30 years of rock and metal magic and intrigue!

DORO PESCH This year marks the 30th Anniversary of Nick Douglas being in your band. What do you think makes you and Nick work so well together after all of these years?

It’s probably the gut feeling that we really connect great. I quickly want to tell you a little story when I met Nick. It was in 1990 – we just had this record done which Gene Simmons was producing – I was a big KISS fan so you could imagine for me, I was in heaven. It was so awesome and he was so great to us - he was such a great producer. I needed a new bass player for the band, and since I’m a big bass player lover – I like guitar of course but I love bass – and having Gene Simmons there, the standards were really high to get a really great one. So we did this audition in New York, and it was in SIR which was a place where we were always doing rehearsals. That day when we were checking out people – I think we did it over two days - we had 120 bass players there.

And I walked in and everybody was excited and everybody was looking really good. It was a time when Sebastian Bach was really hot and everybody looked a little bit like Sebastian Bach. And I talked to my manager and we were like, “Okay, everybody gets three songs. Everyone can come in separately and audition.” And the first person who walked in was Nick – and I saw Nick and I knew it was the guy. So I told my manager “The other 119 don’t have to try out. I made my decision already. It’s this one! It’s Nick Douglas!” And he said, “No. No way. You have to go through everybody – HIGHWIRE DAZE

March/April 2020

maybe there’s somebody who fits better.” So we went through everybody, but I right away had the feeling that Nick was the one and he was feeling the same. He was probably concerned because he’s so tall and I’m so small. We would be playing and he would always be like bending his knees but it doesn’t matter to me at all. I like tall guys – I think it looks good and it feels good. And we played and it was awesome. But we went through the other 119 other bass players, and by the end of the night, I was even more sure of Nick. The other guys were great and they played nice, but Nick was the one. And now 30 years later, we’re still totally happy to be playing together. It’s still as exciting as it was in the 90’s. We’ve been through thick and thin and ups and downs. Nick is a super sweet guy and onstage he’s an animal. He’s a cool human being – warm hearted, very caring, super intelligent. They all like each other – the guys in the band.

What do you think has kept you so passionate about rock and metal music after all of this time?

That’s a very short answer. The fans. I love people – I love making people happy – and I love the fans more than anything in my life. That’s why I don’t have a family and stuff.

I love the fans and it’s always because of the strong fan base worldwide.

So what’s up next? I understand you have something in the making with Lita Ford?

We both just recording in the studio with Gary Hoey, so I just want to say watch out for something. It’s really cool! It 11

needs to be mixed and stuff. I don’t know when Lita will be putting out her album, but there’s something special on there.

I hope people like it. I love that song and it was so much fun in the studio together. We’re old friends and we finally did something together…

NICK DOUGLAS This year marks the 30 Year Anniversary of you being in Doro’s band. What goes through your mind knowing that you’ve been in one band for 30 years and counting?

The first thing that I think of is that it doesn’t feel like 30 years. It feels like about a year and a half because it just goes so fast. We do so many things and it goes so fast that you’re not so much reminded of time. We’re being in the moment so much with constant new adventures and things to do and places to go and songs to make – that it just goes really quick.

So yeah, and when I do think about the actual thing that it’s 29 years going on 30 years – it’s like wow, that is a long time for most bands in general. But it’s like family now. It just feels natural.

You have a solo project in addition to playing bass for Doro.

For people who haven’t heard it or your current album Regenerations, how does your music compare to what you do in Doro?

The energy and dynamic that I use with Doro’s music is different than what I did on the solo album. And it’s kind of intentional because I love all music. It’s still a rock album, but it’s a little bit of a different rock album. I love lyrics – I spent a lot of time writing lyrics and trying to tell a story. So it’s very much it’s own thing, and I’d have to say that one compliments the other. So when I’m with Doro and I’m immersed in a Doro tour or performance, that’s great . And then when I come home or I’m working on my own songs, it’s like wearing another hat. It’s another feeling. And when I’m finished with that, I go back with Doro. And it’s this constant – almost like a tennis match of compliment back and forth – like the two different dynamics coinciding through my life – through my career – it’s nice. It’s always fresh when I go back to Doro and it’s fresh when I go back home and get inspired to write songs. It’s two different beasts and I don’t know if the same listeners who listen to my album would listen to Doro or visa-versa – but that’s okay – that’s fine – but I do kind of

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venture into different ground with it. But I like it – I like the complimentary feel of going between the two.

What does the title of your solo album Regenerations mean to you?

It’s sort of a summary of what we go through in life living and learning or making mistakes and getting knocked down and getting back up again – and not allowing yourself to be discouraged and picking yourself up and going on again.

You can always regenerate who you are or redefine who you are if you’re trying to make yourself better – if you’re trying to conquer something in your life that’s bothering you, and you’re trying to overcome it – you have strength in you if you keep at it and it just an adage for “never give up.” I think it’s nice to say these things in our world today – to encourage people. I think we could all use encouragement always. We can regenerate ourselves and just keep it up and don’t give up.

So that’s it in a nutshell.

People see Doro as the Queen of Metal and a legend. How do you see Doro as?

I see that as well – and I see how she was one of the precursors to women in rock. I think she helped give other women courage to get up and sing hard rock and heavy metal through the years. She has that about her – she has that and no one can take that away from her. I have all the respect in the world for her for that – and for the fact that she’s one of the hardest working people I know to keep what she has going. I guess if I could sum it into one word, I would say “teacher.”

She’s like a teacher to me where I’ve learned so much from her through the years. Just her strength – her willpower – her wanting to put out good energy and not giving up, constantly reminded me to follow a path like that and do the same – to stay positive and keep it at. So it’s not just for women – I think it’s for anyone who has a dream. So I see that about her.

And just knowing her personally – she’s just a humble sweet person – and she’s like my big little sister. You could talk to her about anything. With such a life story that she has, you could sit and have coffee with her in the morning and chat about the weather. She’s still a person inside – she’s strong and she’s sensitive – she’s a great teacher.

www.doromusic.de/ www.nickdouglas.com/

March/April 2020

HIGHWIRE DAZE

YEARS OLD

METAL AS

EP Available NOW! “A five song testament to hard raging rock and the sounds of perseverance, SUZY is ready to captivate the masses with her melodic metal anthems for the ages.

SUZY is a thrilling, expressive vocalist, bringing you into the pulsating metal heart of the matter.”

- Ken Morton, Highwire Daze

For more info, check out: suzymusicofficial.com

Michael Wilton of

QueensrĂżche House of Blues Anaheim, CA January 30, 2020

Photo by Jack Lue

The Heavy Metal Verdict of

QUEENSRŸCHE An Interview with Michael Wilton

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Jack Lue

The legendary Queensrÿche hit the road as 2020 began, performing songs from their vast catalog of albums - including selections from The Verdict, their latest magnum opus from Century Media Records. A few days after their tremendous set at the House Of Blues in Anaheim, Highwire Daze caught up with guitarist Michael Wilton to discuss the latest happenings of the mighty Queensrÿche, their 38 years as a band, Ronnie James Dio, ESP Guitars and other topics of intrigue. Read on...

How has this current tour with John 5 been going and what have been some of the highlights so far?

This has been a great tour. We’re in the second phase of The Verdict Tour and this show encapsulates a great variety of music, eclectic playing – and has just been doing so well. We are all excited to be on this tour.

The Verdict is the 15th Queensrÿche album and it has really received a ton of acclaim. What does this title The Verdict mean to you?

It’s kind of a summation of all the different topics on the album. And it really is just a powerful word – kind of like some of the other Queensrÿche albums that puts a universal umbrella over everything. It really puts an exclamation point on this album.

Almost a year after the release, you’ve released a new lyric video for a song off the album called Inner Unrest. Tell me a little about that song and it’s subject matter PTSD. That is the first song that was written for The Verdict. It’s very special to the band. It deals with the subject of PTSD. Queensrÿche is known for writing lyrics about different subject matters that relate to different topics, and it’s just our perception and overview of the subject matter. We usually just want to ask why or to question anything or to make light of something – just like in this song. We’re not on a soapbox trying to preach any way to be. We strive for people to seek inside themselves and be themselves. But yeah, it’s just a subject matter that came up that fit with the music, and it’s a very special song to us.

Todd La Torre performed drums on this album as well as lead vocals. How do you feel he did with the extra duties on the album?

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Well just to back up, I met Todd initially as a drummer. So I knew he could play drums. And it wasn’t until a few months later that I realized that he was a vocalist as well. This came to a point at the beginning of the pre-production of The Verdict where we didn’t have a drummer. We had studio time booked – we had a contract with the record company. When you have a schedule, you have to follow it. So Todd just stepped up. We recorded one song with Todd (on drums), and our producer Zeuss went “Thumps Up! This is a no brainer!” And to show a little background into Todd’s drumming, his main influence was Scott Rockenfield back during The Warning era. So definitely schooled in some of the finesse techniques and that style of playing. And he did a beautiful way of recording a little bit of his style but keeping true to the Queensrÿche style.

What did Zeuss contribute to the overall recording process of The Verdict? His credits are insane and you have worked with him before…

Exactly! He’s someone who knows how to get the best performances out of each person in the band. He really knows the first six albums of the Queensrÿche history. So what he brings to the table is an outside perspective on the songs, and making sure that they kind of have that Rycheian style – and we really value his opinion. Sometimes you can get so narrow minded and stuck on the demo per say, that is takes someone like a Zeuss to come out and say “Well, why don’t you change this part? What don’t we try this? Why don’t we try a different key? Why don’t we try a different tempo?”

He’s definitely an idea guy. Sometimes songs are good the way they are and sometimes he sees a need to experiment.

We have full trust in him and he knows we can deliver.

Maybe you’ll use him again for the 16th album?

It’s a high percentage calculation that yes, he will be a part of it.

Let’s talk about Casey Grillo of Kamelot. How did he become the touring drummer of Queensryche?

We had a tour coming up after this personal experience of having Scott Rockenfield - having a new member of his family kind of incapacitated him and put him down a different path. So he couldn’t tour anymore. And Todd knew about Casey because he wasn’t working very much with Kamelot – and got a hold of him. And basically we did a few rehearsals and he was perfect. Totally an easy going guy – knows the 15

Queensrÿche style because he’s semi-progressive from being in Kamelot. He’s definitely an easy to get along with guy.

And our fans have embraced him. He’s been with Queensrÿche now touring live for three years.

but I can tell you that we performed with him and I’ve personally met him numerous times. He was a consummate gentlemen – the nicest man with just an explosive voice that he had. I feel privieleged that I got to work with him.

Queensrÿche had been around for 38 years now with the magic upcoming 40 number coming up soon. What does that upcoming 40 number mean to you?

I look at it and I go “where has the time gone?” For this version of Queensrÿche, it’s been eight years and everybody’s been revitalized with this lineup. There’s a lot of creativity that’s really grown and matured as far as songwriting – as far as performing live on stage. For me and Eddie, we really wanna keep this machine going. As long as the fans want to hear the music and record companies want to put out records – CD’s actually or whatever – we’re ready to take on that process.

When performing live, what is your instrument brand of choice and why?

I am an ESP connoisseur guitar player and I have played ESP Guitars for over 25 years. I still play them – I love them – and I think they’re a great guitar company and they’ve supported me. So I can’t say enough about ESP Guitars.

Let’s go back to Operation Mindcrime 2 where you worked with Ronnie James Dio on that album. What was working with him on that album like and what is your favorite memory of Ronnie James Dio? I didn’t actually work with him in the whole vocal process,

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

I definitely want to thank all the Queensrÿche fans for embracing Queensrÿche as we are now and really supporting the music and coming to the shows and showing their support. I think it really shows a perspective from our point of view that the fans like what we’re doing. It’s great that we can still do what we want to do 38 years into it.

http://www.queensrycheofficial.com/

March/April 2020

HIGHWIRE DAZE

ROSS THE BOSS AT THE WHISKY

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Jack Lue

The almighty Ross The Boss made their way to the world famous Whisky A Go Go and decimated the venue with their intensive brand of heavy metal mayhem. Featuring Ross Friedman of Manowar infamy, Ross The Boss won over the sold out Whisky audience with their heavy as hell tunes and grand slam musicianship. Prior to their explosive set, Ross Friedman spoke with Highwire Daze about the current tour, their upcoming Born Of Fire album on AFM Records, news from his other legendary punk band The Dictators and more...

First of all, how has the Blood Of The World Tour been going so far and what have been some of the highlights?

Actually we have five more shows to go. We’ve been pleased with the turnouts. For heavy metal in North America, it’s pretty good. And the band’s just getting started. I haven’t really toured and Manowar really isn’t the biggest band in the United States. It’s not like when we’d tour Europe, we did really well. But it’s been good – it’s been really good. The band’s been received extremely well – and we’re setting up our new record that’s going to be released March 6th.

What are you looking forward to the most about playing here at The Whisky tonight, and how many times have you played here before?

I played here in 1977 with The Dictators. I must have played here 3 times in my career overall. It’s a beautiful venue. I love it!

Your upcoming album is called Born Of Fire. Is there any overall story or concept behind the title of this new album?

It’s not even been two years since our last album Blood Sworn, and the record company and our agents in Europe are like “If you want to make a real big tour in Europe, you’re going to have to put out another record.” And we’re going “What? We just did this!” So that’s just the shelf life of records these days for touring bands. So I said, “You know. Alright.” But I was really saying “Do we have the songs? Do we have the riffs? And the wherewithal to do a new record so soon after the other one?”

What was so great about it was I had a band that was really supportive. Mike LePond – probably the greatest bass played in the world I think – he’s just as good as John Entwistle and Geezer Butler – he’s in that realm of bass players. He was insane – great with arrangements – great with new songs – he brought stuff to the table. Marc Lopes our singer – he was great – he brought four songs to the table. He has his other band called Let Us Prey and he had a bunch of riffs. So invariably we put the record together – and I’m so glad we did, because it’s probably the best record I’ve ever done. I would say it’s harder – it’s more sledgehammer. I think the songwriting has advanced. We were together for two years on the road pounding it out – I think there’s this chemistry that happened with the band and trust.

First of all, Steve our drummer – he played on the record – we have a real drummer playing on the record and he’s amazing! I think everyone is going to be very happy with this record.

Do you still keep any touch with any of the members of Manowar to this day?

I haven’t spoken to Joey in a while. For some reason I haven’t 18

spoken to them. They know where I’m at – he knows my number.

You did a song with Doro on her recent album called All For Metal. What was it like working with her on that song?

She’s a Metal Queen. We all love her! And we love the guys in the band. So it was very pleasurable and a lot of fun working with her. She’s extremely great!

One of the first bands you were in was the legendary punk rock outfit The Dictators. What do you think of those three albums you did in retrospect?

That was a long time ago! I think they’re three very different records. I think they just represented the time period that we were in. I’m super proud of all of them. The first one is hanging in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in the punk rock section. I think they are pretty much ground breaking records. The good news about it is that the original Dictators are going to start recording again.

Are you going to be involved?

Oh, I am! I’m one of the original members. Me, Andy and Scott – Mr. Manitoba is not going to be with us – no Handsome Dick. And Albert Bouchard from the Blue Oyster Cult on drums. We’re just working on music now. We’re just feeling things out. But there will definitely be new music. And I strongly feel that there will be a tour.

Are you involved with any other projects outside of Ross The Boss and The Dictators?

There’s my other metal band Death Dealer – we finished the third record and it’s coming out in June. It’s pretty hard shit! I don’t know if Death Dealer is harder than the new Ross The Boss record – it remains to be seen – but we’ll see…

Do you have any messages for Ross The Boss fans who are reading this now?

Yes! Get the new record March 6th! Come out and support the band. This band is going Up, Up, Up and you’ll see. The new record is heavy as shit. It’s aggressive and it’s melodic and it’s hooks and hits! And we’ll see you…

March/April 2020

HIGHWIRE DAZE

Held Hostage featuring Tim Ripper Owens

Interview by Ken Morton Held Hostage from Syracuse, New York has been rocking the world since 1984 and recently issued the almighty Epic featuring none other than Tim “Ripper” Owens formerly of Judas Priest on guest lead vocals. They’ve opened for the likes of Quiet Riot and Ross The Boss and plan to play some dates here in the Southland soon. Highwire Daze recently caught up with founding member Tom Collier to find out a whole lot more about the Held Hostage hard rock experience. Read on...

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

Hi I am Tom Collier Founder of Held Hostage. I am also the lead guitarist/ producer/vocalist for Held Hostage. I founded Held Hostage in 1984. The name Held Hostage I came up with when the Iranians held the Americans hostage. I decided we needed to help people from all walks of life. We are happy to have sustained though the test of time.

How did Tim Ripper Owens become involved with Held Hostage and what has it been like to work with him?

That is a great story how Tim Ripper Owens came to sing the whole Epic album. My manager John Pettigrass of AEM (Artists Events Management) was working with Ripper on some other projects and he said, “What do you think about, you talking to Ripper and see if he would be interested singing the whole EPIC?” I was like sure lets talk to him. I spoke to Ripper on the phone and he was like, “Send me the music first and let me hear it.” So I sent him the music and the first song he heard was Lightning and he was like “Yeah I think this is something I can get my teeth into.” Ripper had never really sang a hard rock record before. It was so different from his usual straight heavy metal singing. He was amazing to work with. Anyone who has worked with Ripper, I am sure says the same thing.

He is the hardest working musician in the business. He did multiple lead vocal tracks, along with several harmony tracks.

I was amazed by how much time and effort he put into singing on the album. Every song he put a hundred percent effort into.

I produced the album and he was amazing. I said “Hey can we change this part a little?” and he immediately did it. He did some ad libs on his own that took the album to whole new level.

Tim Ripper Owens is a true professional in every way possible and also just overall great guy. After the album was completed Ripper was out with the Dio Disciples Hologram tour and as soon as he finished the tour he came to Syracuse, New York and shot three music videos with us,. We have already released Lightning with two more to come.

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

Yes there is an overall story about the EPIC title. The band over the past few years since I made decision in 2015 to return to the music scene and I wanted to make an impact.. We started gaining such worldwide recognition. I felt we needed to take things to the next level, to an EPIC level. I had all the songs written for the new record and we even threw in a few of our classic hits Hot Night in the City and Rockin The Nite Away. You ad in Tim Ripper Owens vocals and it becomes EPIC! 20

Some of your recent shows including opening for the likes of Ross The Boss and Quiet Riot. How did those shows go and what were some of the highlights?

I have to say any time I can tour with my brother Ross The Boss is an amazing experience. Back in the 80’s when Manowar was on their World’s Loudest Band USA Tour, we did some direct support for those guys. Last year when we did a USA tour as direct support for Ross was even better in my eyes. Ross has got, bar none, the greatest guitar tone ever. Held Hostage got such a great response on tour with Ross The Boss band. Every night we played the crowds loved us. It was killer tour. Then opening for Quiet Riot was another bucket list item.

I used to watch them from the crowd and then to share stage with them as direct support act was incredible. I also became good friends with Freddy Villano who played bass in the 90’s with Quiet Riot. Freddy ended up playing bass for Held Hostage for some live shows when I needed a bass player.

What do you think has kept you so passionate about Held Hostage for 30 years and counting?

I think there are many reasons starting with the loyalty of our fans. They are the best. It is amazing all fans that have followed the band for over 30 years still show up at our concerts.

I remember in 2016 when we announced we were going to play New York City and open for Ross The Boss. People from Syracuse were overwhelming us with requests to see us in concert so I said “Hey lets rent a big tour bus and see who wants to go.”

It is about 6 hour drive to NYC. The bus sold out in a few days.

55 fans rode with us to NYC and we had a blast. In my mind, the main reason the passion has been so high for so long was because when I left music to raise my son, I vowed to return to music and many of my rock star friends said you would never come back. I am a very self driven person so if someone tells me I cannot do something, I am coming back bigger and stronger then ever. Lol. I had so much great music to write and still have much more in me.

What’s up next for Held Hostage?

What’s next for Held Hostage is we are gearing up for touring in support of the new record EPIC. We get asked to play and tour all the time but I want to tour with the right music partners. We are working on the next record already. I have all the material written and it’s just a matter of getting in the studio.

The next album is going to be even more diverse - I call it from mellow to metal. I have always said the band and music needs to evolve and it has.

https://www.heldhostageband.com/ March/April 2020

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LOVELY WORLD GOES WEST COAST

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Jack Lue Lovely World from South Carolina made their way to the West Coast for a string of live performances, including an appearance at the world famous The Viper Room on the Sunset Strip. Managed by Vicky Hamilton of Guns ‘N Roses infamy, Lovely World is destined to garner a good deal of attention - especially if their supremely catchy rock and roll tunes and energetic live shows are indicative of greater glories ahead. Highwire Daze caught up with the Lovely World brigade while they were in Los Angeles to find out more about this dynamic new band on the rise. Read on...

Introduce yourself and tell me what you do in Lovely World.

Landon: I’m Landon. I play guitar and sing.

Cade: I’m Cade – I play the drums.

Michael: I’m Michael – I play bass.

Cameron: I’m Cameron – I play the lead guitar.

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

Landon: We’re based out of Spartanburg, South Carolina – and the local music scene there is nothing. There’s no venues – there’s nothing. That’s why it’s a blessing to come out here to L.A. and San Diego.

How did you wind up working with Vicky Hamilton whose worked with the likes of Guns ‘N Roses?

Landon: We placed a Springboard Festival in Memphis last year, and she saw us and she liked us.

Cameron: She said that she was checking us out like a few weeks before, and we were checking her out too. We were like “Aw dude, suck! She worked with Guns ‘N Roses” – so we were kind of working towards that pretty much. We got it!

You’re here on the West Coast doing a few shows. What was it like playing the Viper Room the other night?

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Cade: It was really cool. It’s a very historic place.

Everybody who talks about that place treats it as a great honor – and it is an honor playing there. A lot of cool bands that we listen have played there also. It was really cool to also be on that stage.

Landon: I’m a big fan of The Vines. And to think that they had their showcase and got signed there is a pretty cool experience.

Overall how have the shows been going out here on the West Coast?

Landon: The crowds have been really receptive and they seemed to enjoy us a lot. It’s a really good vibe on the West Coast.

You recently released a video for your song Do You Feel The Sun. Tell me about the song and what inspired it?

Landon: Most of our songs are cynical – they feel uplifting but the lyrics are kind of dark. It’s about a girl who stayed inside because of depression, and then she goes outside to feel the sun.

And who did the video for the song and what was it like working with them?

Landon: Ridge Beck. He’s done our videos since high school. He’s kind of developed and grown with us – just like we’ve grown musically. It really a cool experience to have someone who knows what they’re doing on our side – and who knows their craft too.

Select any other Lovely World song and what inspired the lyrics.

Landon: The new one Edge Of Time is coming out February 14th. And that song is just about a prostitute – just regular stuff…

Cameron: Just the day in a life of a prostitute.

What could one expect from a live Lovely World show?

Landon: Passion and intensity.

Cameron: Mayhem. Chaos.

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

Cameron: Alice In Chains. Dude, I just think they beat ass!

They’re hard!

Michael: I don’t know. I don’t listen to the same kind of bands that we’d played with. We all have different tastes in everything.

Cade: For me, I like to 90’s to modern rock bands – but I think it would be either Queens Of The Stone Age or Foo Fighters for sure.

Landon: Probably The Beatles or The Rolling Stones – but we’re pretty heavy so I don’t know if we’d match with them.

But I’d get to meet John Lennon, so that would be amazing!

What’s the best and worst part about having two brothers in the same band?

Michael: They’re always fighting. There’s always some kind of argument between the two of them.

Cameron: And it’s about like the stupidest stuff too! Like he’ll be like “Dude, where’s my chips!?!” And then they’ll just go off and he’ll be like, “Dude, you play drums like a HIGHWIRE DAZE

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dum-ass!” And I’m like “What?” And then it gets personal, and Michael and I are like Uh!. You just gotta sit back and let it play out.

Cade: For me, I feel like it’s easy to read Landon and kind of know where our creative process is trying to go – and also it’s easy to get under his skin and make him do something.

Landon: Cade uses subliminal messages to like piss me off. You fight all the time, but in a way it’s all for the same purpose. You’re always working together regardless. So it’s cool. It’s not awful.

If the music of Lovely World was a donut, what kind would it be and why?

Landon: Chocolate chip with sprinkles, jelly and powder.

Michael: I would say Boston Crème Pie because it has something on the inside that you don’t expect…

And what’s up next for Lovely World.

Landon: We’re going to go write some more and get ready for another recording session. We’re going to New York for a showcase – also London – and then we’ll be releasing a single on February 14th. We’re excited!

www.lovelyworldmusic.com 23

Dancing Under The Stars

with Pia Fraus

Interview by Bret Miller Photo by Joosep Volk With the North Sea on the north and west, Russia to the east and Latvia to the south, Estonia is a forest country formerly invaded by both Germany and Russia, and is finally an independent country in the past 30 years. The city of Talinn is on the north coast across from Finland and has brought us the members of Pia Fraus. I’d heard the band a few times and enjoyed their remixes but it took me until hearing the songs from Empty Parks to belatedly become a fan. Pia Fraus have many albums and remix collections on their Bandcamp page and have worked with the likes of Ulrich Schnauss and Airiel (both are legends in the Shoegaze community) and they’ve been featured on the TBTCI covers compilation Stereolab in,Metronomic Underground Versions with their version of Peng. Their music is calming yet bright and upbeat, Rein Fulks’, Eve Komps’ and Kristel Eplik’s vocals are blended into a hushed overheard conversation, words barely made out.

Guitars twang and chime and purr and synths perfume the air as the rhythm section offers a perky counterpoint.

I’m really enjoying your new album. I hear more going on in your compositions, a faster tempo, a brighter all around sound. Maybe it’s just me and you’ve been doing this all along. What has happened in your lives since the last album and what have you set out to do as musicians to make this album so excellent? And you have an earlier drummer come back?

Rein Fuks (Guitar, Vocals, Synths): Glad that you like the album! It means a lot to us! I think we worked harder than ever with the arrangements and stuff, to make our songs sound more dynamic and poppy.

When we started in the late nineties, we were teenagers, and we really didn’t have any clue how to make my simple songs better. We just played as good as we could, without any special ideas or skills. But now, almost 25 years later we’re getting better at this :) But we have always been an up-tempo band. One of our most 24

significant influence was The Wedding Present, and they played fast.

It’s been kind of a new start also as a band. Joosep [Volk] rejoined with us after 13 years with new energy, and it keeps us all going. I think we’re more focused on the band, but it’s still our hobby. We still have our day-jobs.

And working with John McEntire?! How was that and what do you think he brought to your sound? What did you learn from him?

Working with John [Tortoise and The Sea and Cake] was a big honour for us. I have been a big fan of his work, and it was my dream to make the album with him. Empty Parks sounds more clear and without tons of effects. We have worked with different producers, and I think it’s essential to do that if you want to keep your sound and mind fresh. In 2008 we made an album with Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub, and that was also different from what we had done before. In 2017 we produced our fifth album Field Ceremony with our old friend Lauri Liivak. Lauri is a real shoegaze legend in Estonia, and of course an excellent sound engineer. He was the guy who asked us to his studio in the year 2000 and we still work with him. He was also with us in the Soma Electronic Music Studios and also mastered the album.

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I’m listening to Australian Boots right now and am wondering what you are thinking of while these guitar, vocal and keyboard lines weave around and through each other.

Hard to say something about this specific song.

I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to put Australian Boots on the album, but the other guys asked me to add it. I wrote it with my shitty acoustic guitar when I came back from Australia. I thought I had seen nature, I mean like, we have a lot of forest in Estonia. But I was really amazed and shocked by how great wildlife they have in Australia. The nature stuff we have here is like ten times smaller than there.

What does making Pia Fraus music do for you?

I have played with different bands.

It has been my biggest passion and hobby since childhood.

But Pia Fraus has always been the most important project for me. It’s like my own child. Of course, it’s not even a child anymore :) Pia Fraus is a 22-year-old grown-up person!

When I write the songs for Pia Fraus, there are always two main aspects that I keep in mind. I want to make my songs sound dreamy and poppy and it would be extra cool if our music can help people get lost in their own dreams. Maybe even visit some better places. They actually work for me :) Was there a time as a child where you discovered music and your life changed? Was there any specific incidences?

I have been a big music fan since I was six years old. I was really interested in punk music at that time. Later came Guns ‘N Roses and stuff :) But in the mid-nineties, I discovered some Estonian indie bands like Dallas, Dreamphish, Borax.

Also some electronic music like UNI, Galaktlan, Von Suck and so on. It really changed my life. I still like Dead Kennedys, and I have all their LPs, but I don’t listen to them too often. The biggest influences to start the Pia Fraus were Stereolab’s Peng and The Wedding Present’s Tommy. We recorded Moon Like a Pearl in 2000, and our friend Lauri Liivak said that it sounds like My Bloody Valentine :) And this is how we discovered MBV. The band is based in Estonia, a place I know nothing about yet produced the band. What about your part of the world do you love? How does Estonia influence the band?

Estonia is not the worst place on the planet to live. It’s a tiny country next to Russia and Finland. The whole population is only 1,3 million, and only 900 000 speaks Estonian. Most of our history, we have been occupied by Germans, Russians and whoever else. But we got independent in the early nineties, and since then we have been quite successful as a country. We have e-government and stuff :) We also have quite nice nature (flat as the flat Earth), no mountains at all. But half of our country is covered with forests, which is kind of cool. I can say that Estonian nature has been a great inspiration for us.

Tell us about Estonia: The food, the people, the events, the music, the live venues, the beer. I love beer, it always brings people together. Where should we go to visit in your home?

It’s a tiny ex-Soviet country. People are friendly but rather blunt. They will straightforwardly tell you what is on their mind whatever you ask them. Expect no sugar coating or beating around the bush :) This trait has it’s benefits but it usually comes as a surprise to anyone visiting us.

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The food here is excellent if you like boiled potatoes, sauerkraut, blood sausages and sült (weird jelly made of pork head, legs and tail). I’m not that big fan of traditional Estonian dishes :/ Most of our traditional recipes are borrowed from Germans and Russians. The beer ranges from piss-lager to beardy hand-crafted ones that give you a hangover by just smelling them. So something for everybody.

You’ve done a few covers including Stereolab and MBV (LOVE both bands). Who would you like to cover in the future and are there other covers I should know about out there?

A few years ago, we recorded a cover version of The Pastels’ Nothing To Be Done. Oh, and our very first cover was Condemnation by Depeche Mode. It was released on a DM tribute album in 2002. I really like doing covers. I have a plan to make the cover EP someday, but I don’t know yet when. In the mid-2000, we played Heal the World by Michael Jackson, but we haven’t recorded that one.

You’ve also had remixes. So many remixes. Ulrich Schnauss and Airiel are favorite artists. Who are some people you have worked with or want to work with in the future? What is it about giving your finished works to someone else that you enjoy?

I like the idea of remixing. It gives you a new perspective on your own work. We have so many great remixes from the likes of Hood (UK), Ulrich Schnauss, Airiel, Mahogany, Bill Wells, Seeland (UK), Lightships, Teenage Fanclub, Astrobal, Galaktlan, Wolfredt, Future Pilot AKA and so on and so on.

It would be great to have Stereolab or Cornelius remixes :) but these are a bit too unrealistic I think. Have you heard the Stereolab remix of Manic Street Preachers’ song Tsunami? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_F9adaOKFs Or Cornelius’s remix of The Pastels’ Windy Hill? Amazing stuff!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSYkGsa1RTA What bands are you listening to now?

My taste of music is quite wide, from lo-fi to Billie Eilish :) I think that Billie Eilish’s latest single Everything I Wanted is a fantastic song.

But at the moment I really enjoy new music by Sasami, Hazel English, Yumi Zouma, Chris Cohen, Faye Webster, Spinning Coin, Molly Linen, and so on.

Pia Fraus’ latest album Empty Parks is out now on Seksound Records. Purchase vinyl, CD or download on their Bandcamp page.

Pia Fraus: Eve Komp - vocals, synth Kärt Ojavee - synth Rein Fuks - guitar, vocals, synth, tambourine, shaker Reijo Tagapere - bass Joosep Volk - drums, electronic percussions Eplik - back vocals https://piafraus.bandcamp.com/ 25

SUMO CYCO ON THE SUNSET STRIP

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Jack Lue Sumo Cyco performed an explosive set at The Whisky on the Sunset Strip, providing direct support for The 69 Eyes and Wednesday 13. Fronted by the amazing Skye Sweetnam, Sumo Cyco recently announced their signing to Napalm Records. Prior to their standout set, Skye Sweenam spoke with Highwire Daze about the current tour, working with a record label after taking a DIY route, touring with Britney Spears, and more!

How has the tour with The 69 Eyes and Wednesday 13 been going and what have been some of the highlights?

This tour has been awesome! The shows have been really, really great! It’s the other stuff that’s been a challenge for us. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs. We’ve lost our tour bus. We had to drive across the country in a snow storm and missed a show being stranded on a highway for 12 hours. So there’s been crazy adventures so far. I feel like we’ve done 26

three months of touring when it’s only really been like a few weeks. But luckily the shows have been really, really great to make up for it. The fans have been great and the bands have been great too! And some of my favorite shows so far – we had a really good time when we were in New York which was the first show – we got to hang out with some of our new label people that we just signed with. That was really fun.

We did San Fran last night – that was a really cool little bar.

Tonight’s The Whisky and it’s iconic, so we’re real excited for that. It’s always cool to drive up and see your name on the marquee outside. It never gets old…

What could one expect from a live Sumo Cyco show tonight?

One of the things that we pride ourselves in is that we really like audience participation. I really like making the audience feel like they’re part of the show and not just like they’re observing the show. So for me, it’s about high energy – it’s about jumping around – it’s about clapping along, head bangMarch/April 2020

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ing – and I do like from time to time getting into the crowd and into people’s faces too. So people can expect a little bit of that, so don’t be scared when I come to ya. No one is safe at a Sumo Cyco show!

Up until recently you’ve been a DIY artist and now you’re signed with Napalm Records! How did that come about?

Napalm’s actually been in talks with us for years now to be honest. Sonia from the label saw us in 2017 in New York when we were playing with a band called The Birthday Massacre. But it just so happened that a year later, we ended up signing with Oracle Management – and Oracle Management also manages Jinjer on Napalm Records. Oracle Management is Dez Fafara of Devil Driver on Napalm Records. So there were a lot of connections there to Napalm and it just seemed like the natural fit. And once we toured with Jinjer and were played New York, the whole New York office came out and saw us and kind of put the stamp of approval on us. I think them coming out to see our live show kind of put the nail in the coffin for us working together.

Does it feel any different that you are not going to be doing the band DIY anymore?

I think that there’s not going to be too much that’s gonna change. To me, there’s things on my list of to-do’s every day – and the list just gets too long and impossible. And in order to grow as a band, you need to have help – and that’s where Napalm comes in. They know PR and marketing and getting songs out there on radio – and getting the right networking going to get the right tours and festivals – that’s what they’re really great at. So I could take those things off my list, and it gives me more time to be creative, work on the music videos, work on the DIY social media stuff, my photo shoots – all that stuff. So I think from a fan’s perspective, you’re not going to see a takeover where it’s going to feel like a different band and we’re going to behave differently. We’re still going to be the same band with our DIY attitude – we’re just going to have a little help with some of the other stuff around the edges.

And here comes to Britney Spears’ questions. (Skye laughs). What was Britney Spears like doing show with at that time of her career, and at that time of your career?

I kind of got thrust into the business really young. So for me it was kind of like this magical fairy tale of these wonderful things happening, where I just kept getting all of this success and bigger shows and playing in front of arenas. When you’re 16 and that’s kind of one of the first things you’ve ever done – playing in arenas – it almost loses a little bit of that mystique where people at this point in a band say “Oh my god, if I could just play an arena that would be crazy!”

Because to me it just happened, and it was just the way that I knew life to be. In a way, I kind of took it for granted at that age, because everything was happening so fast and one thing lead to another. And Britney, we didn’t actually get to hang out a lot. If you imagine, I’m 16 years old – she’s a huge rock star with a ton of security. She would literally arrive to the venue a few minutes before she was supposed to perform and then she would leave. But there was a couple of times, like HIGHWIRE DAZE

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where she called me “babe” in the hallway and I was like, “oh my god, Britney Spears called me babe!” She gave me a purse as a gift which was really sweet. She was at her prime at that time. Toxic was just out on the radio – one of her biggest hits and one her biggest albums. So it was pretty surreal to be watching that history unfold at that time in the pop world. For me, it was really exciting. Their whole family came to see us perform at The ACC in Toronto. It was just a really special time and I’ll never forget it. It gave me my legs for performing.

What was it like working with Benji Webbe of Skindred on the song Move Mountains?

For me, this was in a way more impactful than doing a show with Britney, because as much as I grew up watching Britney Spears, there’s something about Skindred’s first record that literally changed the trajectory of my life. When Matt my guitarist played me that record, we were both just kind of stagnant in our lives not really knowing what to do musically.

And it really inspired me and him to start working together – and it inspired Sumo Cyco to even exist. So kind of coming full circle and actually having Benji record on a track – and for us to actually hang out – it means so much. It means so much too that he even comments on our posts congratulating us about the Napalm deal. He’s been a really great supporter.

When people say don’t meet your heroes – I met mine and it turned out awesome because he’s such a cool guy and we got to work together.

Now that you are on Napalm Records, will there be any new music in 2020?

Yes there will be! We’ve been working so hard on so much music. We have a pre-order for album Number 3 that has been kind of put on hold now that we’ve signed the Napalm deal, but we’re definitely honoring all of our fan’s bundles that they’ve been purchasing so far. But right now, the idea is to basically make the best record we’ve ever made, which is a tall order. But I feel like the spotlight’s been put up on us and we’ve gotten a lot of great opportunities the past couple of years. The world is watching, and now that we’ve got Napalm on our side, we need to pull through with the best possible album we can. So our idea is to release a bunch of singles in 2020 and then hopefully have the record released in early 2021. It’s going to be a lot of work and it’s going to be a lot of reworking the music that we’ve already been working on, but we definitely want to make sure this record really stands out. So we’re putting in the extra time to (record) the perfect songs that make the most epic record.

And do you have any messages for Sumo Cyco fans who are reading this now?

Our fans are THE reason why we’ve even made it to this level and how we keep sustaining our career, so just a massive big thank you to everybody who’s paid attention and everybody who’s checking out our videos and our music. We really appreciate you and we can’t wait until the next record! And we’ll see you on the road…

http://sumocyco.com/

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HI GHWI REDAZ EMAGAZ I NE

Meet Cherish Alexander: From Josie Cotton, Cyndi Lauper and Beyond

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Moses Sparks Meet Cherish Alexander - a singer / songwriter who has experienced a music career that is nothing short of epic. From being signed to RCA Records when she was 18 which would result in two unreleased albums, Cherish would soon find her voice in bands such as The Painkillers and Bella Bazarria. In the meantime, Cherish had three of her songs featured on the soundtrack of The Crow - Stairway To Heaven TV series and worked as a guitar player for the legendary Cyndi Lauper. With a recent solo album entitled Meet Me Where You Are and a current gig as the bassist for the one and only Josie Cotton, Cherish Alexander remains busy and creative in 2020 and beyond.

Highwire Daze recently caught up with Cherish to discuss her life in the fine art of music. Read on..

How did you become involved with the Josie Cotton Band?

I met in Josie in the mid-90’s. I was working in her studio up in the Hollywood Hills. I was signed at the time to RCA Records. I initially met her through Paul Roessler – I was writing songs with him. And Geza X – who ran her studio – was producing a few of my songs for a band called The Painkillers. We just kind of had an instant connection and we lost touch over the years. Then I ran into her a few years ago at a gig at Café Nela. And we just kind of hit it off. I remember back in the day I said to her, “I want to be your bass player!” So when I ran into her recently, she said “Do you remember when you came up to me and said you wanted to be my bass player?” And I said “Well, I still do!” And she’s like “Okay, let’s do it!” We’ve always had a good connection.

What has it been like touring across the country playing these famous Josie Cotton 80’s songs?

It’s been a complete blast. It’s amazing! People love Josie – obviously her music, but she’s an icon. We just played a Minneapolis Valley Girl event and people were lined up outside the front just to meet her. It’s been a blast. I’m loving every second of it actually.

You’ve also played guitar for Cyndi Lauper. What was that experience like and how did that come about?

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I got recommended to her, and I went and interviewed with her – and it was between me and a few other guitar players – and I got the gig surprisingly. Just working with her so closely – she’s an icon. It was like a dream come true.

You’re latest solo album is called Meet Me Where You Are. Is there any overall story or concept behind that title?

For me, songwriting has always been part of my spiritual journey – and just sort of being human on this planet. This past album, I was going through a rough patch – just going March/April 2020

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through another layer of that onion of growing pains and finding out about yourself. It was another rough patch for me – being human on this planet. Meet Me Where You Are was just basically about another level of acceptance. Initially I didn’t set out to do an album – it was more of just trying to figure out certain circumstances I was in during that time.

And I ended up writing 35 songs in less than a year – it just kind of poured out of me. I did most of the record in my studio garage, and then my friend Paul Roessler helped me put all of the pieces together. He’s like “I think you have an album here” and I’m like “Yeah, maybe…”

Select two songs from Meet Me Where You Are and what inspired the lyrics.

My single that I did a video for, Just Be, is basically about just being present in the moment – and letting go of a lot of things that I felt weren’t meant for me. I was kind of going down certain paths for a long time – and all of a sudden I was going down the same roads but they weren’t looking familiar

I’m sort of more like pop. Paul and I for a short run actually had a project together called Forever My Love No More.

We were signed to Red Queen Music but it was very short lived. It wasn’t meant to be. It was one of those roads you’re going down with slammed doors going off.

How close are you to writing and recording new solo material?

You know, I’m actually pretty damned close to it. To me, it feels like it has to be an inspiration. I feel for me, whenever an album is created, it’s like a birth. So I would say that I’m pregnant – maybe with a new project – but I don’t know when it will hit. I’m also trying to expand my horizons – I’m really wanting to write for more film and TV. So I’m writing for other artists right now. But as far as my own personal project – I don’t know. We’ll see…

https://cherishalexander.com/

anymore. And so it was one slammed door after another slammed door – and I was finally like “The universe is trying to tell me something.” So I basically had to surrender. I just went through this whole spiritual process.

“Just Be” – a spiritual leader said that. So I really contemplated that as part of that journey for me. And then also wanting the music to have that essence as well – that sense to “just be.” And also being 100 percent who you are.

Another song that means a lot to me on that album is called Heart Open. Basically it’s about struggling with ideas – struggling with relationships that are difficult.

Instead of like judging it or shutting down, trying to open your heart and grow from it. So yeah, that song means a lot to me.

You have Paul Roessler on this album whose own credits include working with the likes of Nina Hagen and The Screamers. What did he contribute to the overall making of Meet Me Where You Are? So basically he just made me sound good. I played all of the instruments on the album expect for drums. My friend Jano Janosik played drums and he was in my previous band Bella Bazarria. But basically with Paul – I would send him the tracks and he just made them sound good. And then I redid the vocals at Kitten Robot – which is also Josie Cotton’s studio. He just makes me sound good, and he’s just a good person to throw ideas off of. I trust him. We’ve always had a comraderie with writing and music. I’ve known him since I was 18 years old. We wrote a handful of songs when I was with RCA Records and that’s how I met him. And it’s just so funny because we’re so different – he’s totally punk rock and HIGHWIRE DAZE

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THE NAMM SHOW 2020 INTERVIEWS with JESSE DAMON of SILENT RAGE ,THE SWANSONS and NIGHTMARER

THURSDAY AT THE THE NAMM SHOW 2020 The NAMM Show 2020 took place at The Anaheim Convention Center on January 16th-19th. Feauturing music professionals, instrument dealers both presitgious and new, as well as other movers and shakers within the industry, The NAMM Show is definitely the place to be when the first month of the year rolls around. This year, Highwire Daze Magazine was an exhibitor located at Hall E Booth 1351, which featured a good amount of band signing and interviews.

While Thursday was relatively quiet compared to the madness of the oncoming weekend, Highwire Daze caught up with three very different yet critically acclaimed acts.

Jesse Damon of Silent Rage would be interviewed, celebrating the upcoming release of a new solo endeavor entitled Damon’s Rage on AOR Heaven. The Swansons are an alternative country collective, who are about to unveil their latest full length entitled BAM. And then closing out the day was a chat with Simon Hawemann, guitarist for the extreme metal collective Nightmarer!

Special thanks to The Swansons’ photographer Vic Mendoza of Vicscover Art for the use of his pix or this article.

And now, here are some of the conversations which commenced at the first day of The NAMM Show 2020....

JESSE DAMON of SILENT RAGE

Interview and Photo by Ken Morton

What are you looking forward to the most about the NAMM Show this year?

I’m looking at different electric guitars as well as pedals and processing. I’m playing several pedals by Fulltone now, so I’d like to go and talk with them, so that’s what I’m interested in. Also if I could run into Michael Batio, I’m interested in getting one of his guitars – I think that’s right in line for Jesse Damon or Silent Rage playing.

Let’s talk about Damon’s Rage. How does Damon’s Rage compare to your last album Southern Highway?

Damon’s Rage came full circle. It’s kind of a continuation of Temptation In The Garden Of Eden, which I released in 2013. I would say when I go to write songs – when I’m writing the energetic faster tempo; they’re going to be a little heavier. It’s just my style – my thing – and I had 3-4 of that style on this album – so you’re getting a little more heavier, hard rock with Damon’s Rage than you did with probably Temptation – which was my last rock album. As far as South34

ern Highway, that was a left turn I took just to give a nod to what I love in other genres – not only country but southern rock as well as blues rock. I grew up with all the blues rock legends from Hendrix to Johnny Winter to Rick Derringer – all the big players back then. That was my school – to go and listen and find out about them. But Damon’s Rage also still has what I’ve always been, which is the melodic hard rock side of me. I’m hoping that fans that like my solo work – and also the Silent Rage fans – will get off on some of this material. Because it’s pretty close to what I was doing with Silent Rage, although it’s just me – and Paul (Sabu)…

Let’s talk about noted producer Paul Sabu. How did he become involved with Damon’s Rage?

I’m always in contact with Paul. We’re friends and we stay in touch and we have other projects that sometimes we do. He might tell me about somebody who’s looking for a singer to help on a project. As far as my own material, when I’m ready to do a recording, I always talk to him about it. And if he is available, he usually produces it. So I told him what I had in March/April 2020

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mind, and he said “That’s great! Let’s do it! I’m ready. This is going to be the best album you’ve had. I really want to pull out the stops and push with it – make it a little bit heavier than your last one.”

Still, when you hear the ballads – like the mid-tempo Love Is The Answer – that’s not a metal song – that’s more of a melodic ballad song. It’s the same with Lonely Tonight – but the rest of them have their own personality – and it comes together and it has this kind of angst – and it’s got a lot of energy.

Songs come to me out of the blue – sometimes from the mood I’m in or sometimes from that something I’ve just watched or somewhere I just went – and you get influence. You take it as it comes. I still wanted to do melodic rock genre style. So you’ve got Shadows Of Love and Electric Magic and Tell Me Lili.

Tell Me Lili is a song about my wife Lili and I and when we met – and so that’s our story. Another thing about this album is I kind of wanted to give a nod to the classic legends that I learned from and that were my influences – such as Deep Purple, Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, KISS, The Who – a lot of mainstream real big bands left an impression on me. In writing this, I kind of had in mind a little bit of that bombastic-ness mixed with who I am and how I write.

Actually the song Damon’s Rage was the last one I wrote for the album. The song itself is about a hero with a six-string shield. I take my music around the world and I try to help pull up some people who are down in the doldrums who need to be lifted up with my music. There’s a lot of darkness and a lot of evil in the world – and if you can do that with what you do in life – and you can help people and lift them up – that’s what I always try to do. So the song is about that – but Damon’s Rage as a title is pretty much my take on the Rage.

I was in a band called Rage for years and then we changed it to Silent Rage – and now my influence is Damon’s Rage.

You’ve come full circle. So back in the Silent Rage days, you worked with Gene Simmons of KISS. What was that experience like?

It was like a kid in a toy store or a candy factory so to speak.

Basically when you get a chance to start a relationship and are able to learn from a legend – and somebody who I’ve watched my whole life growing up – going to concerts when I was young. I’d be going to concerts when I was 13-14-15 years old, seeing KISS and standing on top of my chair. There were a lot of inside stories that were kind of ironic – that my destiny was going towards meeting him and meeting Paul and meeting KISS and being involved with that band. And also getting the opportunity – when he discovered us, there was a lot of footwork that we did to try and get it into his hands – and when it happened, we could hardly believe that it happened. But once the cycle started going, it was a roller coaster ride and you really had to hold on – you really had to tune in and listen to him. He had a lot of great information – a lot of teaching skills and good advice.

During the time you toured with Black Sabbath. Which lineup was it, and what was that experience like?

It was Tony Martin on lead vocals. Tony is a strong and extremely gifted singer. He was little closer to the style of Ronnie James Dio – so any of that material they did cover he did HIGHWIRE DAZE

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well. But the Headless Cross tour that I went on – that was a great album and a great song. It had Cozy Powell on drums – it had Neil Murray on bass – and of course Tony Iommi.

And the first day we’re on tour – we’re outside – a beautiful sunny day in upstate New York – out on the grass my guitarist in Silent Rage Mark Hawkins and myself were both kind of noodling and playing – and Tony Iommi comes out of the arena after his sound check – and comes and talks to us. He says “Hey, I heard you guys are opening up for us.” He was just a sweet guy that was very open – and that talk right there he set us on a nice path and really made us comfortable. And of course we’re in awe- “Tony this is such a great opportunity.

Thank you so much!” And that was Gene also pitching for us to get on that tour. It was a lot of fun – a lot of great dates. We played New York City – we played all up and down the East Coast. We started to head towards the Mid-West – we played Cleveland – we were starting to head towards Chicago but they pulled up stakes, and they went back home to England.

But we did quite a few dates.

What’s up next for you this year?

Well I’ve been offered a couple of festivals in Europe. I’m talking to promoters and trying to get on bills that are still open right now. I’m going to put together my own new version of Damon’s Rage. And so we’ll go out and do some dates. We’re going to have some local dates too – we’ll probably play The Whisky and we’ll play Vamp’d in Vegas and play some other clubs. As far as down the road, I am hoping to get it together so that Silent Rage will do another album.

We’re not done! And this time we’ll go back and also have Paul Sabu produce it. That’s a little further down the road, and I’m trying to promote Damon’s Rage right now. I’m getting a lot of good support and a lot of great feedback from it – so I’m happy about that.

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JOE and ANGIE FINLEY of

THE SWANSONS

Interview by Ken Morton Photo by Vic Mendoza of Vicscover Art

What are you both looking forward to the most about NAMM this year?

Joe Finley: Oh man, the whole experience is just so overwhelming. It’s hard to dial in on any one particular thing.

We’re happy to be here with you Highwire Daze – that’s actually the main reason why we came here today – to spend some time with you. But we’re looking for the new digital video screens that they have – you know we do the video with our shows. We’re looking at all the new technology there to see what we could do to improve the visuals on our shows.

Hopefully we could do a demo here with somebody. We brought our IPAD with us so we could hook right in and go.

And how about you Angie?

Angie Finley: I was going to say that’s it – we were going to see about the LED screens, because right now we use the projector, but I feel like that wall instead of the projector is more the way to go. So I want to check out that and then just walk around and take in the whole vibe.

Joe: We want to demo some stuff and have some fun too.

Beat on some drums – play the xylophone – whatever we can get our hands on.

Angie: Just get lost and forget about the world for a minute.

You can kind of go into this world of music.

You have a new full length album coming out entitled BAM. Tell us about the new album and what does the title BAM mean to you?

Joe: BAM is our entire relationship – from the beginning of our band to the beginning of our love – everything just exploded like BAM! And that’s just what the song’s about – our relationship and all that goes with it. We operate at a very fast pace to say the least. From the time we started, we were just off and running. We’re excited that the whole album is coming out on March 16th, so we’ll have that available on vinyl too.

Angie: We’re doing vinyl and CD only for the entire album.

If you want digital copies, you’ll have to wait until each individual song comes out – which will be timed out through the year. Each song will eventually be out digitally by the end of the year. But if you want the whole thing, you have to buy the vinyl or the CD. Give the music lovers what they really want.

We just talked about the song BAM. Why don’t you both select one other song from the album BAM and what inspired the lyrics.

Joe: I’ll go with our next single. Our next single out is called Let It Go – and it’s a song about generally in life, we as hu36

man beings – and I’m drawing from personal experience – but we have a difficult time letting people go , letting things go, letting situations go. We have a hard time forgiving – we hold grudges – and this song is about getting rid of all that, just letting it go and dealing with it. Bad things happen to good people all of the time and we need to understand that that’s part of life and to not hold things against people – and just kind of let it go and live life happily.

Angie: And The Outsider is another single that is out from BAM. I feel we can all find a way to relate to this and Joe has personal experience on this of course – as he saw throughout his life going from State to another State. And I had that same experience and it’s like culture shock. And even though you think you know people – you can get into different situations and then all of a sudden you’re The Outsider – you’re different. And that’s okay – and that’s what the chorus screams out is that “I can’t hide it. I am The Outsider.”

Joe: Instead of trying to conform to fit into the situation, understand that I am unique and I look different and that’s okay!

I’m fine! Once we get past all that, then we’re all good. So we’re all The Outsider at different points in our lives and in different situations. And just like the chorus says “its okay. Be proud of who you are and the way that God made you.” It’s a very inspiring song.

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How did you two meet?

Joe: It’s a really very deep story. To try and simplify it, I lost my wife tragically. Angie was the neighbor and a friend of the family – and was concerned about our family and began to come over offering her condolences and helping with some food for us and being with my kids.

ing Through The Pain to get through my grief – and that turned into The Swansons’ debut album with her coming into the studio with me one day and singing a line on one of my songs. And then that was it. I said, “Let’s start a band together.” So she’s my angel. She rescued me from the darkness of my days.

Angie: Especially one year after, because I was living in Newport Beach, but I moved back to Rancho Cucamonga right down the street from his house. It was one year later – and I had no clue or no intentions of falling in love or anything like that. I was just offering a friendship. He was suffering and heartbroken – and I was not moving into anything romantic. It was just a friendship thing and it evolved.

Angie: It was a life worth saving.

Joe: It really happened like magic. From a friendship to being really, really close. I could open up to her about things that I was struggling with. And then out of nowhere, just BAM! We tried to pinpoint the moment. What was it? Was it something that she said or I said or when she touched me or I touched her? What was it that caused that magic to happen from a friendship to looking at her differently? I know all of a sudden how I started feeling – and man, it felt great. I started feeling all of this sadness melting off of me.

Angie: Love can mend a broken heart.

Joe: Her love saved my life and it started The Swansons. I was writing a tragic album that ended up being called Writ-

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What’s up next for The Swansons?

Joe: We have a whole bunch of videos that we either have in the works or planned. We’re shooting our podcast Welcome To Swansonsville Season 2 – so we’re doing that on about a bi-weekly basis. We have our follow-up to BAM in Nashville halfway completed. And we’re dying to go on tour!

Angie: Once BAM is all out, I feel like we will be able to conquer the world!

Joe: We’re independent recording artists. We left a small independent label early on and started our own label and our own publishing. And we just decided to stay true to that, and to keep working hard – like you and your magazine. So we’re willing to put in that hard work because we believe in it, like you believe in your product.

https://theswansonsmusic.com/

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SIMON HAWEMANN of

NIGHTMARER Interview and Photo by Ken Morton We’re here from Simon from Nightmarer at The NAMM Show. What are you looking forward to the most about The NAMM Show this year?

So I just started working with ESP Guitars last year after NAMM, and I’m very excited about their lineup – they have some cool new stuff coming out that I’ll be playing. Also I designed a limited run with an ESP dealer that is coming out in about two months. So that’s kind of what I’m most excited for. It’s my fourth consecutive year here. I also work for Guitar Magazine, so I go and take photos – and everything that’s interesting to me I’ll go and check out. It’s always a blast!

The name of the latest Nightmarer album is entitled Cacophony Of Terror. What was the inspiration behind that title?

A cacophony is just a way to describe a cluster of unpleasant sounds – and since our music is very dissonant, it felt like a very appropriate term. It’s a way to describe very dissonant music anyway, so it just kind of lended itself to it. And calling it Cacophony Of Terror – the album is about a person that feels like they’re stuck in a nightmare, and they feel like they’re terrorized by an entity that they can’t really explain – and it ultimately kills the person at the end of the album. I think it’s a very apt title, and it’s also a very musical sounding title which is kind of cool at the same time. Kind of two birds with one stone there.

You toured with the legendary Dark Funeral last year. What was it like and what were they like?

They were very polite, nice people. As a matter of fact, I’ve kept in touch with one of the guitarists and he’s a very nice guy. But yeah, they were very professional. They got the job done – they killed it every night – and offstage they were reserved, friendly, polite people.

Where are you based out of?

Right now I live in Tampa, Florida – I’m originally from Berlin, Germany – and I’ve lived in Florida for five years now. I might relocate to the Pacific Northwest this year.

We’ll see. I’m in Tampa, our vocalist is in New York, our new guitarist – his name is Keith Merrow – he’s based out of Portland (Oregon) – and our drummer is still in Germany.

We do have an American live drummer whenever our German drummer can’t make it. He’s plays for another band that tours heavily – they’re called The Ocean and they’re on Metal Blade. Sometime the schedules don’t always lineup. The tour we did with Dark Funeral we had an American drummer with us. But yeah, we’re all over the map, spread across the world.

of choice and why?

It’s funny – before I moved here I hadn’t had any alcohol for ten years, so I wasn’t drinking. I wasn’t a beer drinker. I do drink non-alcoholic beer every now and then. There’s a wheat beer – it’s called Erdinger – which is a Bavarian brand. They make a great wheat beer – even the non-alcoholic wheat beer they make is great – it’s very refreshing. The wheat beer they make with alcohol is great too. But yeah, I only started slowly getting back into drinking beer when I moved over here. We have a couple of cool breweries down there in Tampa. I try stuff every now and then. There’s Coppertail which I think is pretty popular in Tampa. But I’m not a beer pro to be honest with you.

What’s up next for Nightmarer?

So our drummer was just in Tampa with me for two and a half weeks and we wrote about two-thirds of the new album.

And I’m going up to Portland after NAMM to finish the rest with our guitarist. There’s going to be a new album, and we’re waiting to confirm a couple of tours. We’re planning to go to Europe, so I think it’s going to be a pretty busy year. The album will probably not come out before the fall, but that doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be new music before that. People just need to follow us on our social media channel if they want to stay in the loop and hear new shit sooner…

https://www.facebook.com/nightmarercult/

Germany is famous for the beer. What is your favorite beer 38

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The NAMM Show 2020 Interviews

Rik Fox of Steeler

Interview by Ken Morton Photo by Jack Lue

The legendary Rik Fox of Steeler did a signing at the Highwire Daze Magazine Booth at this year’s edition of The NAMM Show. Prior to the meet and greet, Highwire Daze caught up with the Rik to discuss his days with Steeler and his current band ventures.

What are you looking forward to the most about The NAMM Show today?

It’s a circus as always and the side show is always interesting.

I have a couple of booths and companies that I need to hit. I just stopped at DR Strings on the way and they want to get together and talk – because I’ve been playing their strings. I used them in the studio when we recorded on the Jim Crean album – they were great and I let them know that.

They said “Yeah, we know who you are. Definitely get in touch and we’ll work on something with you.” And I said, “Okay, that’s great!” So that’s accomplished! I have to see Full Contact Hardware Babicz Bridges because that’s going on my new bass. Anthony Sola of Sola Custom Guitars is supposed to stop by – they’re doing my new Signature Bass. And I have to stop over at EMG and talk pickups, because that’s going into the bass as well. It’s something you wait for all year, and then we’re you’re here it’s like “Okay, let’s get it over with.”

(Laughs) It’s a lot of walking!

When you reunited with Steeler in May of last year, what was that experience like to see everyone again?

That was at Keel Fest. We did that out in The Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio. It was great! It was the Ron Keel Band – which is a separate entity; Keel – which is a separate entity; and Steeler! So Dwain Miller played drums – Mark Edwards showed up but he can’t play – but we all got onstage and hugged and everything. But Dwain Miller played drums and Mitch Perry came and played guitar. I flew out with Mitch from Burbank. We flew all the way there and all the way back together. We got to bond and all that – it was really cool. He’s a great guitar player – he’s great to play with – he’s a really, really nice guy. But it was blast! It was great to be onstage with Ron again. And we did sort of an acoustic version of Serenade which went kind of electric somewhere 40

in the set. Then he went and did Keel and stuff and then we went back and did the Steeler set. And the house was rockin’! People came in from all over the country.

When you look back on the Steeler album that you did, what do you think of them now and that time of your life?

I still love it. Every once in a while I’ll pop it in and play along with it.

I’m better now than I was back them.

(Laughs) We progress as the years go on. You learn your craft better.

I’m playing stuff now that I wish I had recorded on the album back then.

But it is what it is. It stands the test of time. A lot of fans tell me it’s in their Top 5 of their Top 10 stranded on a desert island metal albums.

That says a lot.

Tell me about the current Tribute bands you are involved with.

I’ve been doing the circuit with Strangers In The Night, which is a UFO Tribute band – so we do all the songs off of the Strangers In The Night Live album. And from there I got a gig with Child In Time, which is a Deep Purple Tribute. So I’m playing at Petie’s Place in Tarzana with both bands (on the same night)…

How do manage two intense sets of music a night?

You know, coming from the New York / Jersey scene in the late 70’s / early 80’s, you’d play in a club 4-5 sets a night – 45 minute sets – I don’t have that stamina like I used to. But it’s a mental thing – you just focus. I know the UFO songs – I know the Deep Purple songs – and it’s just two different mind sets.

And you’re playing some of the greatest music in the world…

Yeah I’d like to think so. We’re not as popular as the Abba Tribute bands or stuff that packs some of the clubs. It’s a selective audience I guess – that would be a nice way of putting it. And it takes constant promotion – everyday. Because you’re in somebody’s mind for five minutes and then they get distracted by something else – you gotta keep reminding them. Gene Simmons told me that years ago when KISS was forming. You’ve got to stay in their minds constantly.

Promote promote promote!

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The NAMM Show 2020 Interviews

THE MILITANTS

Interview by Ken Morton Photo by Jack Lue

The Militants present their own super intensive brand of heavy metal in the glorious DIY spirit!

Fronted by Charlie Zeigler and featuring the participation of Stone Clement and Ed Gage, The Militants made their way to The NAMM Show for a Meet and Greet at the Highwire Daze Magazine Booth. Prior to the signing. we spoke with The Militants’ mastermind Charlie Zeigler to discuss their amazing new album Gathering Darkness, adventures at The NAMM Show, and other topics. of heavy metal intrigue.

cut Bomb Of Evolution. It’s a very powerful statement and a very powerful record. And it will take you on an adventure!

How does Gathering Darkness compare to your previous records?

This album – I took it another step forward. We’re upon an adventure and a mind trip. I still kept the original Millitants style on how I do things – I still have my own sound and my own identity. It turned out really well.

The first album, One Nation Under Death, that turned out really well – it did very well for me putting me on the map of heavy metal. Then the second album, Fuel The Aggression, that really made a lot of heads turn. And We’re here with Charlie of The then I decided to take a little bit Militants at The Namm Show! of a break, and get more involved Say hello… with production and engineering Hey, what’s going on people! and mixing. And then I did the Welcome to NAMM 2020! third album Front Line Kill – and You’re at the Highwire Daze this one just sonically BOOM! It Magazine Booth! Right on!

Charlie Zeigler and Ed Gage of The Militants really put me out there and a lot We are Metal! of people were like “This album is awesome!” And I was very proud to see the results of What are you looking forward to the most about how it all came about. And then of course the new one NAMM this year?

Gathering Darkness – this one is going to completely Basically being at your booth – and going around and go right over the top. It’s a very, very good record. I’m looking at all of the new equipment – the new electronproud of all the four releases The Militants has done. ics. It’s been a fantastic adventure. And again, it’s just It’s been a very good success and a lot of people dig it. a wonderful place to be. It’s a once a year convention And I’m very honored about that. as we know. It’s good times with metal music in the making. Always good times for the people!

What’s up next for you and The Militants?

Since I’m really not playing too much on live gigs beLet’s talk about the new CD Gathering Darkness. cause I do more of releasing albums and session work in Yes and it’s on vinyl as well. my recording studio and have my own record company – I’m starting to work to another album. I’ve got nine Very cool! So is there any overall story or concept excellent demo ideas. And it’s going to take me another behind that title? year, so when we come back next year, I’ll have another Yes there is. It’s dealing with today’s present and also album – and it will be on vinyl and CD of course. Vinyl the future – the way that everything is turning into and rules man!!! And vinyl’s coming back Ken. We know a play upon how the world is treating each other – and this! there is a particular cycle as the world is getting darker and darker. And it’s a Gathering Darkness. For example songs like A Fire Never Dies or a really cool

http://www.themilitants.com/

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The NAMM Show 2020 Interviews MELIA with THOMAS SANDGAARD of The SANDGAARD FOUNDATION

Interview by Ken Morton Photo by Jack Lue

Rocking singer/songwriter Melia has released a track entitled Sleeping Beauty on her recent Skeletal Remains EP dealing with the topic of opiod addition. The song has been promoted over the last few months by The Sandgaard Foundation, an organization dedicated to finding solutions on the opioid crisis. Thomas Sandgaard, the rock and roll CEO of Zynex Medical and founder of The Sandgaard Foundation, met up with Melia at The Highwire Daze Booth at The NAMM Show for an interview to discuss Sleeping Beauty and banding together to fight the ongoing opioid epedemic in America and beyond...

First of all, what are you both looking forward to the most about The NAMM Show this year?

Melia: I was looking forward to meeting everybody – like meeting Thomas – and everybody just networking and making friends. I just love meeting everybody. It was fun.

Thomas: And I’m just so proud to be here to support you and your magazine – just being here with the booth and getting the word out – and obviously getting the word out about “Let’s do something about the opioid epidemic!” That is probably the biggest thing that we could be working on today.

Melia, let’s talk about your song Sleeping Beauty and what inspired the lyrics for that.

Melia: You know, I got a little metaphorical with the Sleeping Beauty theme. I know a lot of people that have either passed away or had drug addiction – including people my age, around my age, or younger than me – especially just from my school that I went to. And it seemed like that at the time I was writing it, it was all going on at once and I kept finding out that a lot of people that I knew were passing away or addicted. And I just wanted to bring some sort of awareness to it and the reality of it. Cuz Sleeping Beauty kind of sounds like a fairy tale, but it’s really not. It might seem really cool and awesome, and then it really leads you down a dark path. My Uncle struggled with it – I had family members struggling with it. My Uncle passed away. So it’s 42

always been something that has been very emotional for me – and definitely when everything started happening with this opioid crisis, I wanted to be involved. I wanted to write and get my feelings out about it.

Thomas: There’s literally no one that’s not touched by this opioid epidemic. Everybody has somebody in their family or best friend that has been impacted by the opioid epidemic. And I guarantee you that we have not even seen the tip of the iceberg yet. Some of those prescriptions might be lower, but so many other drugs because of holding back on prescriptions are on the rise. Heroin, Fentanyl – all kinds of stuff is coming up instead. We gotta do something and we gotta do it now!

What’s up next for you Melia?

Melia: I’m going to be recording a new EP this year and I’m just going to play as much as I can. I just finished playing The Whisky on Wednesday and that was awesome.

And I’m happy to be a part of this.

And like Thomas said, opioid addition affects everybody. Pretty much everybody I know has been affected by this. I’m happy to be a part of everything, so thank you.

And what’s up next for The Sandgaard Foundation?

Thomas: We gotta crank up the volume! We gotta get to the word out. We gotta be LOUD about it! We can’t be loud enough. We gotta get the word out – we gotta create awareness. We’re going to use the awareness to reduce the shame – the shame that’s associated with being an addict – so that people don’t lie when they get into the ER so that the doctor’s actually have a chance. So that when people get discharged from the ER, their family is actually able to support them instead of everything being a big lie. And that all stems from the shame associated with it – and we’ve got to do something about that. We’ve got to get Naloxone out on the frontline so that we can stop people from dying when they do overdose.

https://meliarocks.com/ https://www.sandgaardfoundation.org/ March/April 2020

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The Sandgaard Foundation News Takeaways from “The Last Option, not the First, for Developing Adolescent Brains” panel supported by The Sandgaard Foundation The Sandgaard Foundation aims to change the conversation around pain, shame and the isolation that brings people into the opioid crisis and keeps them there. By actively supporting initiatives to create a positive change, we believe that together, our efforts to curb the crisis can make a difference.

At The Sandgaard Foundation, we’ve learned that we’re better when we band together. When it comes to difficult topics like the opioid epidemic, it’s important to start and continue the conversation as a community in order to lift up those around us who may be struggling. This is especially important for our most vulnerable populations like adolescents.

A January 29 panel at Wake Forest University in WinstonSalem, North Carolina focused on adolescents and included panelists from The Sandgaard Foundation, Stanford University Pain Lab and Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Here are three takeaways from “Opioids: The Last Option, not the First, for Developing Adolescent Brains”:

1.

A panel of experts joined on January 29 at Wake Forest University to discuss opioid prescriptions for adolescents in the Opioids: the Last Option, not the First, for Developing Adolescent Brains panel discussion, presented by The Hanley Foundation and The Sandgaard Foundation. Pictured here is Dr. Laura Veach, professor at the Wake Forest School of Medicine and Thomas Sandgaard, founder and CEO of Zynex Inc. and The Sandgaard Foundation.

On removing the stigma - “I want to turn up the volume on the conversation about drug addiction and shame. If we can remove a little bit of that shame people feel about being a drug addict—whether it’s an adolescent or an adult—we can make an impact. If they don’t say anything, they are the furthest away from getting any help. Getting the word out and trying to remove that stigma is our goal.” – Thomas Sandgaard, founder and CEO of Zynex Medical and The Sandgaard Foundation

2. On adolescents being prescribed opioids – “If you can wait until you’re 21 to use any mood-altering substance, your brain will be more protected and be less likely to become addicted.” – Dr. Laura Veach, professor at Wake Forest School of Medicine 3. On making progress - “When we stigmatize, it helps lead to discrimination and does not lead to progress.” – Dr. Noel Vest, postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine The Sandgaard Foundation, in collaboration with the Hanley Foundation, will be continuing a series of panel discussions across the country. By talking openly about the opioid epidemic, we can change the way we treat pain.

Let’s band together to beat the opioid addiction.

To find out how you can get involved with The Sandgaard Foundation, visit our website: www.sandgaardfoundation.org or connect with us on social: @SandgaardFnd. HIGHWIRE DAZE

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Meet Jonas Streffer of The Hard Way Interview by Ken Morton Photo by Joe Schaeffer Meet Jonas Streffer of The Hard Way, ready to rock your world at the world famous Whisky A Go Go on the Sunset Strip and beyond. In addition to performing with The Hard Way, Jonas is also a member of the one and only MetalAbba. In future shows, expect to see Jonas performing with The Hard Way supporting the legendary Krokus at The Whisky in October as well as many others to be announced! In the meantime, check out this interview Highwire Daze recently conducted with this powerhouse drummer...

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in The Hard Way, and how long you have been with the band.

My name is Jonas Streffer and I play drums for The Hard Way. I’ve been with the band since the beginning of 2017.

What do you think of our local Los Angeles music scene overall?

You gotta love it. LA’s music scene was one of the big reasons I moved here from Germany about 8 years ago. I LOVE how many fantastic musicians there are here from all over the world.

Even in The Hard Way there are at least four nationalities represented. Andrés is from Ecuador and John was born in Sweden. I simply love that. Nowhere else in the world will you find a place where the best players of the world gather, hang, make music and have fun.

Describe your first show with The Hard Way and who was the band you were opening for? Did you get to meet or hang out with the headlining band at all?

The first show I played with The Hard Way must’ve been opening up for either Dokken or LA Guns. I remember the LA Guns show the best for sure. We are always doing direct support, and to play right before LA Guns in front of a packed house was pretty sweet.

What could one expect from a live The Hard Way show?

The whole show is dialed in and we all are so incredibly pumped to be playing with each other and we push each other so much. You’ll get an energy loaded punch-in-your-face rock show. And mind-blowing Guitar Solos.

What is your favorite The Hard Way song to play live and why?

That’s gotta be I Can’t Go Home! Man it’s so much fun and I look forward to closing out the show with it every time. It’s got so many riffs and fills the whole band is playing together. It’s starts off like that right from the start and it just DRIVES from there. There are hits ’n breaks where the band really has to be tight.

Tell me a little about MetalAbba and how you became involved with the project?

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John, who did all the arrangements and played first guitar reached out to me pretty early on. As a metal fan, AND being from Europe I immediately jumped on it. And the drum parts were so great. John really had a feel for how to handle the original material and arrange it.

What was the experience like participating in Ultimate Jam Night at The Whisky?

Sick. Ultimate Jam Night is one of those events where you can see a part of what’s great about LA’s music scene live on stage, you know? Again, some of the best players are up there.

People celebrating music. And there are SO MANY musicians who take the stage on those nights.

Are you involved with any other projects outside of The Hard Way and MetalAbba?

Yes! I do play with several pop artists as well. I like to get involved with different styles of music and players/artists of different genres. Willow Stephens and Alexa Villa are some of those artists. I also play regularly with The Flux Capacitors, a pretty fun 80’s cover band. At the end of 2019 I went to China to play with Piano Virtuoso Giovanni Marradi in Zhengzhou.

What are your drums of choice and why?

Tama Drums. I just always loved the sound, feel and look of them. And growing up all of my favorite drummers played ‘em. They make the best hardware, too. And I play Zildjian Cymbals. They just sound the way cymbals have to sound, you know? I also think I’ll likely never play a different stick other than Vic Firth.

Any final words of wisdom?

I hear the phrase “There is just no good music out there anymore!” WAY too often and I’m sick of it. There is amazing music out there. More than ever. Music of any genre. Wonderful, talented, hard working original artists and players. Be open.

Go find it. Go see live shows.

March/April 2020

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New LP release Streaming on all outlets CD and 180g Vinyl available at cdbaby & bandcamp www.HusBand.Rocks @HusBandRocks

THE MANY PHASES OF SPLIT MOON Interview by Bret Miller Photo by Cecelia Fonseca Split Moon are a Los Angeles-based band playing Shoegaze that’s as driving as it is involving. The vocals low in the mix yet melodic, the tempos grooving and epic, the guitars telling stories of dust-scoured landscapes, fighting titans and whatever your mind can imagine. I’ve attended shows with Split Moon bassist Ryan Orvis, who also runs Stowhouse Records and is a fellow Swervedriver fan. Singer/guitarist Mike Starr is as well and so when I learned Mike had the band Split Moon I began to listen and enjoy the band’s guitar-heavy yet graceful compositions.

How is Split Moon different from your previous bands?

It’s quite a bit different. I started doing punk rock stuff from a young age. I had a pretty successful hardcore band and when that settled I was starting to get into shoegaze. As time went on, I had The Gimmicks which was like The Stooges, Gun Club kind of vibe. I just wanted to get back to playing Shoegaze. So I started Leaf. We had to change the name, so now we’re Split Moon. When Stowhouse asked us to do the record, talking about it with Ryan (Orvis, also bassist for Split Moon) it just seemed to make sense. With Leaf we were having such a hard time being recognized.

What is the meaning of Split Moon?

When I was thinking of the name I didn’t sit there and ponder any deep meaning behind it, other than it looked good and sounded good. I really wanted a name that could be a brand, have it be iconic. If you wanted to you could do something artistic with it.

I had a family friend give me an acoustic guitar but I didn’t know what to do with it. I didn’t really know what to do with it. I don’t know how old I was but I remember a friend and I tried to pretend that we were in a band and write music at a young age. I think our band was called Discover or something silly. We wrote to Kiss and said we’d love to open for them.

Fantasies like that. I was in high school and a punk band played there and I thought I had to do that. I don’t remember their name. I was living in Billings, Montana at the time and they were these New Wave Punk kids that played the high school. Kids of my age playing made it seem possible I could do it too.

And was there any meaning behind the album title Slow Satellite?

Ryan and I and our wives went out on a vacation out to the desert and I think it was Ceci, Ryan’s wife that mentioned slow satellite and that just sort of made sense.

I took lessons and when I was young I could read music a little. I got discouraged because for me it wasn’t fun to rehearse how someone else is teaching you. I felt like teaching myself.

Which I feel is better because you can develop your own style. I remember going to take lessons and I was totally into Kiss so I brought a bunch of Kiss music and said “I want to learn this”. I didn’t want to learn their music choices first.

What is your musical training?

I grew up loving Kiss and wanting to be Ace Frehley and realizing that when Kiss started sucking and Punk came around it was easier to play Punk Rock than it was to be Ace Frehley. Also, Steve Jones is really good, and Greg Ginn (Black Flag founding singer/guitarist), any of those guys back in those days. It seemed easier to play three chords fast in a Punk band.

Tell us about your band members.

We’re a four piece. We’ve been lucky enough to have many friends who are willing to be our drummers when we need it.

So this is a whole new lineup from who played on the record.

The guys that were on the record left the band. I was fortunate enough to get Ryan and Dave Paolucci. Dave is on guitar and Ryan is on bass and we have three of our friends who have been kind enought to be our drummers.

Was there anyone in your family or friends that supported you to become a musician?

What are some of the bands you’ve played with?

We’ve played with Highlands, The Warlocks, Dead Mead-

ow, Cosmonauts and L.A. Witch.

Is there enough complimentary bands out there to get on good bills where people aren’t just coming for the headliner?

I’d like to think so. I don’t need to only play with Shoegaze or Psych bands. I like to play with other bands that might not be exactly to our sound. I think that’s helpful. And that’s again part of me growing up and going to shows with diverse bands and they compliment each other.

Are there bands you’d like to tour or share a stage with?

I’d love to tour with Swervedriver, which is one of my favorite bands. I’d love to be able to play with Thurston Moore, with the Thurston Moore Group. And Dead Meadow, I dig those guys. Dinosaur Jr. How big are we talking? Spiritualized?

There you go! I’ve interacted with and follow a few bands that have opened for Swervedriver on the West Coast: Film School and Pacific Latitudes.

I think it’s possible, just need a booking agent to work their magic.

What is one of your favorite lyrics that you wrote?

Now you’re putting me on the spot. I think the song A Million Pieces, because I wrote if for my wife, it was part of our vows. I’ll go with that. The whole album was written around our relationship.

Where did the artwork for Slow Satellite come from?

Robin Gnista who designed the cover, I’d seen his stuff because he did albums for Uncle Acid, Television and The

Hives and I really liked his artwork. So we asked Robin and the price was there. What he did for us is different than other art he’s done and it took me a second to get the concept. We gave him our idea of it too and he changed it. Once I sat with it and really looked at the image, it made sense to me.

I don’t really know what the art means, it has the overlapping circles and squares and then an off-center square in the middle.

That’s supposed to be the satellite. There’s something different in the art between the vinyl and the CD versions.

How does making music affect your life? Does it help make sense of the world?

I know that music is in my blood and it’s hard to not play music. There was a time when we were younger where you felt like you only had so far to go and maybe you’re washed up. I struggle with it all the time thinking I’m too old to play.

It’s a great outlet, it’s my exercise, my therapy. You can write something personal to you, or a song that means something to everybody. I hope that whether it be the music itself or the lyrics, that it does something to the person listening to it.

I write what has a feeling or a groove or an inspiration for me but I also try to write so it relates to whomever is listening.

Split Moon’s Slow Satellite is now available on CD, vinyl and download on Bandcamp.

https://splitmoon.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/splitmoonband/

Mr. George Lynch Scary Meets Dirty Shirley Review by JNR Again, here today Mr. George Lynch Scary meets Dirty Shirley extending his guitar playing prowess with Shirley. Again,it’s a stop-off for George Lynch, the Hollywood Scenester epic guitarist who spawned life in Dokken where he made his mark, and Lynch Mob where he revealed truth and sanity through his nasty sex groove anthems like Wicked Sensation. The Hollywood leading the pack gunslinger touches down on this Dirty Shirley debut album gracing it’s beginnings of something that on the guitar holds up to the George Lynch standard.

Dirty Shirley: Band: Mr.”George Lynch” Scary-guitar, Will Hunt-Drums, Dino Jelusic-Lead Vocals, Trevor Roxx-Bass Dirty Shirley Debut Record Run Down: 1.Here Come The Kings - Lynch’s straight ahead no-frills rocker with Dino’s Coverdale-ish Euro-Rock singer sensibility,which makes him all the more nostalgic and retro.Strong and hard-driving with Lynch tonight,snake- charming soloing,coupled with his tight rhythm attacks.

2.Dirty Blues - A gutter vocal sounding rant,slipping and sliding.A very hair metal vibe days “92” feel with Coverdale vocals.

3. I Disappear - This song pulls from the Lynch Mob’s Cold Is The Heart feel ,on Mr.Scary’s guitar attack. Also the Bass and the Drums have a nice rolling along feel,while the ambient guitar playing drives the song home.

4.The Dying - Clean and rhythmic groove guitar strings,and threads it’s way along.

5.Last Man Standing -The Lynch Mob influence keeps running deep on tracks like this,with Dino doing his Coverdale sounding vocals meets Euro-Metal.

6.Siren Song - Lynch’s stabbing and attacking guitar takes over while it takes you over, as it rolls on sort of a Rainbow feel,as the ship sails,rolling out to sea lost in keyboard delirium.

7.The Voice Of A Soul - A slow Lynch ride on the guitar with Coverdale type moans.A bluesy scat along,with a certain guitar,vocal play along.

8.Cold - A pounding driving song that grasps the power of Dirty Shirley. With a drippy low driving groove by Lynch,swaggering his way through the cut.

9.Escalator to Purgatory - This song laced with dance groove is gonna have you move.

10.Higher -A thick unrelenting power rocker,a time-warper. The song marches you off to the edge of the world,and with Dino’s voice to take you there.

11. Grand Master - The indian-style jingle Scary delivers on this raising the snakes.

In an age of ruthless rock, of throwback and wanna be hipsters, Mr.Scary cut through the mud on this Dirty Shirley debut, which will be viable and of lasting quality to the album’s Longevity. In a day and age where bands are literally being thrown together by music corporate companies,this stands a chance of surfacing in a foreseeable rock cesspool of put-together bands.

A note on the guitarist: Mr.Scary ESP 6 stringer,a fledgeling burgeoning in the arrival of the gunslinger on the sunset strip.

George named Mr.Scary for a reason,and one reason only,he took hard rock guitar to new levels in the most cut throat music territories in the land,that would be Hollywood California.

Mr. George Lynch” Scary, with his antics of a true 2020 modern day gunslinger,can make a Rock N’ Roll album hold together and that’s his Dirty Shirley.

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March/April 2020

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Product Review by James Grover SAWTOOTH 20 WATT TUBE AMP “it purred, it growled, it sang!”

-James Grover

This January at The NAMM Show 2020, Sawtooth Music made it’s debut for the first time and introduced its 20 Watt All Tube Amplifier. If you’re a guitarist who plays Rock, Jazz, Blues, Country, Metal, or any other style of music., You will find that this amplifier can handle all your needs.

As a guitar player I have used many amps in my career, however when I plugged into this 20 Watt Sawtooth All Tube Amplifier, I notice a great Low end with growl and a high end that cuts through. With the adjustable Bass, Mid-range and Tone knobs you can dial in the perfect tones for those rhythm parts and guitar solos that need to cut through the mix. It sounds great and smooth.

I used this amp with a high output humbucker pickup installed in my custom guitar, it purred, it growled, it sang!.

Overall this is a great sounding amp. It’s a great amp to use on a large stage or at a smaller venue with plenty of punch. I really like the vintage look of the amp with the chicken knobs, The 12” Speaker is loud as it pushes through like if I was playing through a much higher watt amplifier.

Now when it comes to my dislikes on this amp I find it very hard to say anything negative about it, however it would be nice if it had a “standby” switch and “effects loop”, Overall I give this amplifier two thumbs up and high five to Sawtooth for making a great All Tube 20 Watt Amplifier at a very affordable price.

For more information on this product visit: www.godpsmusic.com Reach James Grover at: https://www.facebook.com/james.grover.311 HIGHWIRE DAZE

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THE GUITAR & WHISKEY CLUB

THE CANYON CLUB, AGOURA HILLS, CA., JANUARY 10, 2020 Review by Ken Morton - Photo by Jack Lue The first Highwire Daze Concert Review of the New Year took place at The Canyon Club in the wilds of Agoura Hills on a Friday night. Headlining was the one and only Jack Russell’s Great White, playing all the classics from a vast and brilliant career. Jack Russell and his crew were in top form, and delivered the goods to a packed house. Opening the show with an equal amount of sonic intrigue was The Guitar & Whiskey Club, and judging by the sheer excitement generated from the stage, there is a no doubt fan and friend membership would be increasing within the ranks of this rock and roll organization.

Mixing up the memorable original selections with a few well performed covers, The Guitar & Whiskey Club surely gained the attention of the early arrivals ready to rock out to the sounds of Jack Russell’s Great White. Opening with the spiraling refrains if The Carnival, The Guitar & Whiskey Club fearlessly launched into an absolutely solid performance. Included amongst the covers was an explosive rendition of Heart’s Barracuda – an intricate song not easy to pull off live, but one which The Guitar & Whiskey Club performed flawlessly. Flies Like Whiskey was an original highlight, slated to be on their upcoming EP, and vibrantly pulsating when unveiled within a live setting.

The musicianship found within The Guitar & Whiskey Club is inspiring and first rate. Band leader Jeffrey Donovan absolutely soars into the stratosphere on guitar. Jennifer Wylde is a thrilling and captivating front woman, bringing each and every song to an ultra-vivid life and keeping the audience thoroughly engaged throughout. Seen Robinson is a total pro rocking and rolling away on guitar while drummer Bob Sickels drives it all home with skill and precision.

And supplying the dynamic low-end is newest member Andy Hewett, best known for his work in the epically underrated Evolution Eden. Together, the massively talented musicians of The Guitar & Whiskey Club hit a grand slam of a performance in Agoura Hills, supplying tremendous support to the Jack Russell’s Great White experience.

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Expect to hear a lot more from The Guitar & Whiskey Club in the months ahead. Upcoming events include an appearance at The Rainbow’s 48th Anniversary Party In The Parking Lot on April 19th opening for Faster Pussycat, Doro, and Bulletboys. The band will also support The Iron Maidens at The Whisky on May 29th!

The Guitar & Whiskey Club is: Jeffrey Donovan – Guitar Andy Hewett – Bass and Vocals Seen Robinson – Guitar Jennifer Wylde – Vocals Bob Sickels – Drums https://www.facebook.com/Guitarandwhiskeyclub/ March/April 2020

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Missing Persons, Diane & The Deductibles, Gunboat Kings The Coach House, San Juan Capistrano, CA., February 1, 2020

Review by Ken Morton - Photos by Kat Ellis Missing Persons and Diane & The Deductibles played three shows together during the month of February, continuing their tour of terrific live shows and friendship through music. The arrival of the brand new Missing Persons album Dreaming was now on the horizon, and there would be plenty to celebrate. The first event would take place at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano and the show was sold out – packed to the rafters with music fans looking to relive New Wave memories of the past and experience modern day rock tapestries of the present! Kicking off the night were Gunboat Kings from Orange County, presenting a fun and energetic set of original tunes. Such an impressive collection of musicians to be found within the Gunboat Kings brigade (including dual keyboard players), and it was obvious they had a good amount of fans present for the set. The influences of all band members are vast and varied - from classic rock, to jazz, blues, and R & B, with a taste of Philly soul thrown in for good measure. Check out their latest album Lifespeak and be sure catch the Gunboat Kings the next time they row in your town.

Diane & The Deductibles brought their own exhilarating brand of modern day classic rock to The Coach House, and unveiled a show that was nothing short of triumphant. This was the first time the Huntington Beach-based collective performed at The Coach House, and they certainly made A LOT of new fans on this rocking Saturday night! Opening their set with a rousing rendition of their should-be hit single Frontline from their TWO album, Diane & The Deductibles proceeded to rock the house with an absolutely captivating presentation.

Special guest guitarist Mike Wallace joined the band for this show. Best known for his work with Keith Emerson and Marc Bonilla, Wallace brought a dynamic showmanship that absolutely dazzled the crowd. Diane Adams sang her heart and soul out on this magical night, demonstrating why she is clearly one of the most underrated female vocalists in rock today. Keith Lynch displayed a grand deal of artistry on guitar throughout the show, while ex-Air Supply member Cliff Rehrig on bass and Ronnie Ciago on drums made for a vibrantly intensive rhythm section.

Missing Persons headlined the night, and definitely brought the 80’s style New Wave into the packed venue with a good amount of passion and skill. The band opened their set with Mental Hopscotch, and instantly had the audience out of their seats and on their feet singing along. One notices right away that Missing Persons rocks much harder live than on the studio albums. In addition to Dale’s iconic vocals, the driving guitar work and the intense rhythm section unleash the songs into a whole new dimension above and beyond the decade of the 80’s Included within the Missing Persons membership is Prescott Niles of The Knack, whose bass work is wondrously supreme and epic in scope. Karl D’Amico also delivers a standout performance in Missing Persons, his thrilling guitar playing sending the songs into the stratosphere. The absolute highlight of the night was when the entire band jammed in the middle of Hello, I Love You with imagination and flair – easily demonstrated that Dale Bozzio and company have admirably 52

carried on the Missing Persons legacy to even greater heights.

Be sure to pick up a copy of their latest album Dreaming, now available through Cleopatra Records and at: https://www.dalebozzio.today/store.html!

March/April 2020

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ALBUM REVIEWS Dirty Love Abby K Self-Released Single

by Ken Morton Abby K is an extraordinary bassist and vocalist from Mooresville, North Carolina, who has been making her presence known throughout North America and beyond. Her previous single It Should Have Been Me released last summer shows an artist exploding with passion and leaving music fans craving a whole lot more. And now we have Dirty Love, an absolutely amazing new song destined to rock your world in the grand tradition of Halestorm and The Pretty Reckless.

“You’re killing me with your Dirty Love,” Abby K muses with a sense of urgency and triumph in a rock song that should find a good amount of passion with ardent music fans the world over. Abby K has presented the next dazzling chapter of a music career that should skyrocket in no time at all. She’s opened for the likes of Nita Strauss and with songs as impassioned as Dirty Love, it will be exciting to see what the future has in store for Abby K. Stay tuned…

Drive Clio Cadence Self-Released single

by Ken Morton Clio Cadence is a singer from Texas whose talent and charisma is about as massive as the Lone Star State. Make no mistake, Ms. Cadence is a star in the making, and judging by what has been unveiled within the raging grooves of her first original single Drive, expect this passionate performer to hit the stratospheric heights of success in no time at all. Dealing with the subject of building up the courage to leave a toxic relationship, Drive and its accompanying music video seethe with a triumphant sense of determination and urgency.

Featuring the writing and producing participation of Michael Orlando of Dead Girls Academy, Clio Cadence delivers an epic modern rock song that should be all over the radio airwaves. In addition, Orlando also directs Clio’s Drive video, and what an inspiring combination of talent!

“I will lift myself up, And I will hold my head high, I’ll clean off all the scrapes, They made me who I am today” are amongst the empowering lyrics performed with verve and conviction by Clio Cadence. While a cover of Billie Eilish’s You Should See Me In A Crown has garnered Clio a good deal of admiration, Drive clearly shows Ms. Cadence as a true original ready to thoroughly connect with all types of music fans through her art. Stay tuned, as we all will be hearing a whole lot of more from Clio Cadence in the months ahead…

HIGHWIRE DAZE

March/April 2020

Chemicals Despain Self-Released Single

by Ken Morton Despain is the creation of Los Angeles-based singer / songwriter Matt Skajem, best known for fronting pop punk/emo bands Out With The Old and Best Kept Secret. Despain is the next chapter to Skajem’s music career and it’s definitely a wide-eyed auditory trip into the mind of a profoundly expressive artist. Describing his new content as “sad but stoned” on Soundcloud, Despain is releasing their debut EP one single at a time. Chemicals is the latest song to be unveiled, and it’s hallucinatory lyrical refrains and darkly infectious melodies bring the listener right smack into the tumultuous tripped-out world of Skajem’s Despain.

Singing in a deceptively smooth voice with warm grooving sonic passages, Skajem muses about “the chemicals running through my head, driving me insane” with the muted urgency of a performer seeking his new fix of imagination and intrigue. Skajem has never been one to mince words, and Chemicals definitely places the listener right into the heart of addiction. Channeling a young Lou Reed walking through the dirty streets of Hollywood while adding chill-out beats to the unfolding creation at hand, Skajem’s Despain is as enlightening as it is unsettling. Definitely looking forward to hearing the entire Despain WØNDERLVND EP in the near future.

Pretend Dizzylilacs Self-Released single

by Ken Morton The alternative rock revolution of Dizzylilacs continues with the unveiling of their new single Pretend, once again demonstrating the passion and imagination this dynamic band possesses.

With wide ranging influences covering the many generations of rock, Dizzylilacs present a sound that is spirited, intensive and vibrantly unique. Their latest single Pretend exudes a dynamic sense of urgency, with lyrics such as “Ghost in there, Hard to love, Making sure that all your feelings, match your words,” rendering a maximum impact.

Mark V. Hoagland performs the lyrics with a dynamic sense of conviction while unleashing very persuasive bass tones. His brother Paul Hoagland brings it all home with skill and precision on drums. And the guitar reveries found within are brilliant and atmospheric in scope. The Brothers Hoagland have released a dazzling piece of sonic artistry with Pretend. He’s hoping we are presented with a brand new EP or full length from the Dizzylilacs in 2020!

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Audio Therapy Evolution Eden Ravager Records

by Ken Morton Evolution Eden has presented their remedy of rock in the form of Audio Therapy, their latest and greatest collection of tunes now available from Ravager Records. Based out of San Francisco but a frequent player here in the Los Angeles music scene, Evolution Eden present a mighty concoction of classic rock, power pop and even a dose of heavy metal – and the sonic prescription found within Audio Therapy is sure to inspire all who discover this gem of a record. “Wanna break the chains and follow me? Are you willing to ride the animal inside?” is the invite presented to the listener during the ripping kickoff song The Animal Inside – one listen to this commencement and you’ll be massively addicted to the infectious sounds of Evolution Eden.

And the killer songs keep on driving at the listener, with tracks such as Kiss Like Summertime, Beautiful Disaster, and This Is Your Life clearly presenting a band at the very height of their creative prowess. Evolution Eden features not one but two charismatic front men - lead guitarist/vocalist Brandon Owen and rhythm guitarist/vocalist Mike “Pap” Pappas – both who know just how to present a vibrantly memorable rock and roll performance. The fiery rhythm section is brought to you courtesy of bass guitarist/backing vocals Mike McShane and drummer/backing vocalist Brian Powell. Together, these fine musicians will seriously rock your world and leave you wanting to revisit their exhilarating music time and again. Be sure to check into Audio Therapy

by Evolution Eden and prepare to supremely rock it out with these truly timeless songs!

Situation Room Hüsband Konst Musik

by Ken Morton Jonas Carnemark of Hüsband was making the rounds at The NAMM Show at The Anaheim Convention Center, and presented Highwire Daze with a CD of his band’s just released Situation Room manifesto. Based out of Bethesda, Maryland, Hüsband unveil their own driving brand of melodic pop rock that really makes the listener stand up and take notice.

Situation Room kicks off with the warm grooving reveries of Too Big To Fail, at once demonstrating Hüsband’s superb knack for infectious melodies and cheekily perceptive wordage. Good Editor commences with a wistfully sentimental keyboard that merges into a scathing testament about the creation and criticism of writing and art as the song muses “If you’ve nothing to say then don’t bother, if you do make sure it’s understood.” Aim Low hits the target tenfold as vocalist 54

Michael Kervin astutely expresses “Keep a hold of your key demographic, give them the slop they desire.”

The wit and wisdom of Hüsband continues on, including the diabolically memorable Dingos Took My Baby Away – a tune you’ll be singing long after the Situation Room spins to its conclusion. And be sure to stay until the very end of the disc to experience The Further Adventures Of Flyspeck And Zweiback and the combustible refrains of the rocking Glisten, both selections exhibiting Hüsband at their most visionary and sublime.

While the music found within Situation Room by Hüsband is deceptively laid back, the lyric sheet must be followed for maximum impact. The entire package is vibrantly refreshing even as it administers a good swift kick in the head upon the world at large.

The musicians who unleash the imaginative Hüsband tapestries include Michael Kervin on bass and vocals, Jonas Carnemark on guitar and backing vocals, Amit Chatterjie on keyboards, and Jim Sullivan on drums. Imagine the wicked candor of Elvis Costello combined with the slick persuasive reveries of Steely Dan, and you are only just beginning to envision the auditory odyssey Hüsband has in store for you.

Heart’n Balls Silverstage M & O Music

by Ken Morton Based out of Paris, France and ready to place the pedal to the metal worldwide, Silverstage is a female fronted collective destined to leave a lasting impression on all types of music fans. A band who names their album Heart’n Balls obviously means to rock your world in a vast and epic way, and Silverstage definitely deliver the heavy metal goods and leave you wanting a whole lot more!

Opening the Heart’n Balls experience with the kickass refrains of All I Need, Silverstage hook you into their wickedly wonderful world of heavy metal intrigue. Want You Dead is infinitely persuasive, performed with a seething venom that is explosive and cathartic. Rise is another highlight where passionate vocals and raging guitars absolutely reign supreme.

And what a collection of clearly seasoned and spirited musicians Silverstage possesses. Vocalist Marianne G Wolf places her heart and soul into each and every song, singing the lyrics with a grand amount of fervor and conviction. Jayd The Bear rages with his stratospheric guitar work while bassist Jeff Monaco and drummer Lilian Perrin make for a tight and intensive rhythm section. Silverstage is well on their way to the worldwide big leagues, especially if the almighty Heart’n Balls is indicative of greater triumphs ahead.

And if you live in the Hollywood area, they have copies of this album currently available in the metal section at Amoeba Music! Check into Silverstage however you can and prepare to discover this amazing new band on the rise!

March/April 2020

HIGHWIRE DAZE