Sammy Hagar: The Evergreen Rocker Lives Life Up.     Sammy Hagar talks passionately about his new album Livin' It Up, touring, his lifestyle and bar, everything Van Halen, plus more on Journey, Planet US, Montrose, Michael Anthony and then some more Van Halen. Enjoy! Sammy Hagar is one of a handful of artists that heavily influenced my desire to start this website. My desire was to speak to like minded people about music that inspired me and through Sammy's work with Van Halen and as a solo artist; some of these tunes are among my most treasured. For whatever reason, it has taken me nearly 10 years to connect with Sammy for an interview. But I got my interview! With personal thanks to Tom Consolo at Azoff Management and Sammy's publicist and indeed Sammy himself, my long awaited interview is below. Sammy was in top form, passionate as always and was happy enough to shoot overtime to continue chatting with me. This is definitely one of my favourite interviews while running this site and I hope it is the first of more to come. While I didn't quite have time to run through 10 years worth of questions, I think we ...

    Part 2 - Jimi Jamison Survivor vocalist Jimi is put under the microscope. Although a positive and friendly interview, I don't think Jimi was overly chatty on the day, so the interview is fairly short.   Good to talk to you again Jimi. Yeah, you too. It's been too long. It has been. You have been busy in-between time… Yeah, kinda busy. I'm busy in spurts. You guys do what a lot of bands do these days and go out for the weekend runs don't you? Yeah, pretty much. That's when people want us to play. We don't have to do the two or three months at a time anymore. Pleased there is still a lot of interesting the band? Yeah, people still want to hear the good ol' music so I'm happy that we play a lot of fairs and casinos. People always seem to be there. Anything lined up for the support of Reach? Some European dates planned I see… [since cancelled] Not sure if they are still valid, but I haven't heard anything for sure. So let's talk about the record. Okay. I haven't got a copy of it yet. Ok, tell me about making it. ...

Stratovarius: Moving on from controversy. I talk with Stratovarius' Timo Koltipelto, who discusses the band's reformation and their chance to put past troubles behind them. Hello? Hi, Timo here, how are you doing? I'm very well, mate, how's yourself? I'm doing good. Tonight I'm flying back to Helsinki so no problem. Oh, is this the last day of PR for a while? Yeah. Fantastic. Then back home? Yes, basically, then there's some promotions to be done in Finland on Monday and then the next week is traditional mid-summer celebration in Finland so there's nothing happening then so I can relax as well. Fantastic. You deserve it. Maybe <laughs> How long did the album take to record? Well, it's a long story and probably a little bit different from other bands. The drums were recorded sometime in April last year. First of all, all of the problems we had in the past, I don't know if you're familiar with those? Yes, I am. The producer and guitar player Timo Tolkki has a mental illness called manic depression. He was diagnosed at the same time that he was supposed to be recording the tracks so what they did, at first, ...

Steve Lukather: The hardest working guitarist in the business.   Steve Lukather, the legendary Toto guitarist and phenomenally popular session man lays it all on the line in this exclusive interview conducted a couple of months back. Steve and Toto have both had illustrious careers and Toto continues to tour heavily throughout Europe and beyond. Their work schedule is at time grueling and life on the road can take its toll. Steve talks candidly about the life of a rocker on the road and the ups and downs of the loss of a stable routine. That's here in the now - Steve also delves into the past for some more brutally honest and at times, hilarious insights into his career and life with Toto. We talk about the singers, the record labels, the current musical climate and plenty more. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did conducting it. Special thanks to Don and Ron Higgins for their tireless work in transcribing the interview. What's up! Steve! You there you old bag? (laughs) How are you mate? We finally, actually talk on the telephone. I hear the voice now. Yeah, exactly. Yours too, how are you? Good ...

Dennis De Young is an established legend. No doubt. Speaking to Dennis was one of my bigger interviews and I would like to say that he was a pleasure to talk to and one of the funniest guys I have listened to. He is genuinely down to earth, humble and a very nice guy. Thanks to my awesome fiancée Cathy for typing this interview out for me. Even she commented how genuine Dennis sounded and I hope that comes across in the text... How are you? I hope you haven't been trying to get through? No I did try twice before when Jim Peterik gave me your number I think about 6.30 our time and the phone rang out… It's good to finally talk to you it is a great pleasure to talk to you. My pleasure also I've never talked to anyone in Australia EVER. Really, good grief. My wife has always had a burning desire to come down there. Well you've got an excuse now. Well yeah. She reads romance novels and a lot of them are set in Australia. I guess it is rugged and considered romantic down here. I don't know who knows! It's good to ...

Hey Steve! Hey, what's happening? Not much actually, what about yourself? Just sitting here playing my guitar. Cool, thanks for taking my call. No problem man. So what did I catch you in the middle of, in the studio? I am just about to start something. Some weird project for John Kalodner. Actually it's a Christmas thing. Christmas in April! You have to do these things way ahead! But I am doing a track with the Lobotomy guys, Garfield and Phillips. We are doing a strange version of Chestnuts Roasting On The Open Fire, but kinda how Metallica would play it or something. Sounds different! Yeah, we're just having fun with that, and writing songs for a Toto album we are supposed to start recording in the summer. And I am trying to finish the Jeff Beck record, but who know's if that is ever going to get done. We haven't done anything on that since the end of October, stuff needs to be done. He takes 10 years between albums, now I understand why. I heard that you had taken up with John Kalodner. He is a really good friend of mine, he has been a very big supporter of ...

Street Talk: Back to deliver their best record to date. Frederik Bergh talks about the new Street Talk album and why he decided to give this classic AOR act another chance, plus news on the new Bloodbound album. Fredrik - let's start by talking Street Talk. First of all - fantastic to have you and the band back. Could “V” be the best Street Talk album yet? I think it was the most consistent for sure... Very nice to talk to you! Yeah, it's good to be back with the new album! I'm very pleased with the result, lots of work was put into the making of this album to make sure that we really did a killer album this time around! I think this is our best album to date for sure! I for one was pleased to stuck with Goran for all vocals - he has always been the main player, but why on this occasion did you chose not to use another vocalist also? I'm also very pleased to have Edman onboard for all the vocals on the new album! I think Goran will be the only singer in Street Talk from now on! There's no need ...

Shadowman: Steve Overland's Jouney Up The AOR Ladder Steve, nice to have the opportunity to throw some questions at one of Britain's most respected rock vocalists. Is it nice to be a busy man again after some time away from the scene... Hi Andrew, it's nice to talk to you. In answer to your question it's always nice to be busy & although I guess I've been out of the public eye for a while. I've been busy with writing projects & sessions. But it's nice that people can see that I'm still alive! From where you sit now, Shadowman and The Ladder signify a new creative path for you after year's of work with FM. But neither is too far musically away from where your heart lies, correct? Yes you're right about the direction of Shadowman & The Ladder being where my heart lies. I had a period where I wanted to move away from the blues rock kind of thing (i.e The S.O album) but it's what people know me for & I guess you always go back to what you do best. Let's talk Shadowman first - you have obviously been in contact with Khalil ...

Stan Bush: A great melodic talent shining again. Stan Bush talks about hsi brand new killer solo album SHine, which proves to be some of his best work in years. G'Day Stan, you may have read my full review of the them and be aware already that I view the album in very high regard. i think it's the best album since Every Beat Of My Heart. The last album - Language Of The Heart seemed to be setting the path of future direction for you - more laid back, mature acoustic driven pop/rock. What prompted the change back to more guitar driven AOR on Shine? First of all thanks for saying such nice things about the new album. I'm also very happy with how it came out. Some of the last albums I did were a bit more thoughtful and acoustic guitar-based. On this record, I got back to my rock roots and came up with some great rock songs, more like the original Stan Bush & Barrage album. It's been a while since I've heard any rock albums that made me smile. A lot of music out there has been kind of dark the last few years. ...

Shiva: Sweden's melodic rockers get tougher. Shiva's duo of Mats and Anette talk about their new harder rocking release and life as Sweden's Shiva. Hi guys, Congratulations on the new album. It's a slightly heavier affair than the debut - what thoughts did you have in mind when starting to write and record this new album? Mats: Thanks a lot! We wanted to do a heavier album than “SHIVA”, but still very melodic. It felt more exciting to do something different on Desert Dreams comparing to our debut and it felt naturally in a way to take this step. Anette: Yes, it s a little bit heavier and harder than the first album but it s still very melodic and, in fact, Desert Dreams has more ballads than the first so it has a soft side as well. I think the album is partly in the style of the debut and partly heavier, and little more contemporary. Are there are any bands that have influenced your style in this manner? Mats: I listen to all kinds of music, everything from hard rock, heavy- , trash- metal to classic- and pop-music and I can t particularly mention new bands that I m ...

Shugaazer: A new name, but a familiar voice. Paul Laine talks about his new band Shugaazer and his role and future in Danger Danger. Shugaazer has been a while in the making - I know you have been working on songs for some time now. Just how long did the writing process take and then the recording? The idea of forming this band started many years ago....I had always been writing songs for Shugaazer (the band that never was) and every time I had to do a D2 record, Steve and Bruno would choose some of that material, and that's what would end up on their album's. This album in particular was about a year in the making-8 months writing it and about 4 months recording it. How many songs were written and/or recorded for the project that has resulted in the 10 tracks included on the final album? Probably somewhere around 30 songs were written to various stages before Chris and I decided on the 10 that made the record....When I set out to do this, there was no deal on the table...I thought to myself, I am going to make the record that I want to make, sing ...

G'Day Sean, how long has the process of getting this album recorded until now been? Well, we started to write the songs 2 years ago,but some ideas were even previous. Part of the material comes from old Eldritch unreleased stuff and the rest came from some songs I wrote with the piano which weren't good for “Reverse”. After the recordings of Eldritch's album we sat down and finished our demo that fastly gave us a deal with Frontiers Records. In July last year we recorded it. Let me give you a chance to introduce Vicious Mary to anyone who hasn't heard of you, or heard the music yet. Vicious Mary is a band create by me and Terence for a simple reason. We love A.O.R music and we wanna play it!!!! We always had the passion for this music but of course we couldn't play it with Eldritch. Vicious Mary is a project that may sound like Whitesnake, Dokken, Harem Scarem, Bon Jovi, Europe, but even something like Queensryche. You are Terrence are also in the popular progressive band ELDRITCH. Why did you feel the need to record under a different style of music? Eldritch is no longer ...

Hey Solli, Thanks for answering some questions for me… I'll start with you back in 1990 when Sons Of Angels first hit the scene. You are obviously a European band, but how did you come to be signed to Atlantic USA? The signing basically came out of a 10 day trip to LA with a demo, we call it the gold digger-trip!! We only had one name in our pocket when we came to LA but the response we got was so immediate and overwhelming that it seemed like everyone who heard it called everyone they knew! After one week, there was a rumour in the record-business in LA saying "There's three Norwegians in town with a tape that burns"!! This is the plain truth, so you can imagine that was a fantastic experience. We figured that the really interested labels would come to Oslo and see us live so we put up a gig in Oslo and MCA, Atlantic and Warner came. MCA were represented by the president himself, Al Teller, together with 3 people from other territories! The people from the Norwegian record-industry who attended the show were stunned when they saw who was there. You certainly looked American - how ...

  Stan Bush has been behind a couple of classic AOR albums with cult status now attached. He has also recorded some safer middle of the road material, but remains one hell of a good voice. His last album was attacked for it's production quality. So I thought I would run a few questions past the man himself.... So Stan, so far there has been only a European release with Now & Then/Frontiers for the Heaven album. Will your Barrage releases be exclusive for Europe? I thought there would be a good audience for that album in Japan. So far the "Heaven" album is only released in Europe, but we are working on arranging a release in Japan. I know you have decided to use the band name for Europe, so what will you be recording under just Stan Bush? I have a new album coming out at the end of March on BMG Europe called "Capture the Dream: Best of Stan Bush". It contains the best of the last four albums, and includes a new title as well. The last solo album got split into 2 releases, the European and the Japanese issue, which is becoming an annoying habit ...

Steve first appeared as one forth of the youthful hard rockers Trixter. Their album, released at the start of the decade, went on to sell one million copies in the states, and gain the band a huge following. Now Steve has moved onto a new act Throwan Rocks, who already have gathered a fan base along the east coast USA. Reviews for their four track EP have all been positive, and now the band are at work on a full length debut. So how did it all come together? How’s Things going then? Going great! What’s the new band then? The band is called Throwan Rocks. How long has the band beet together? Right now the the band have been together exactly a year and a half. That long! Yeah, it’s been a project of mine that I started. Basically what happened, I built a studio in my basement of my house. Just started knocking around, experimenting and having fun, and all of a sudden I had four or five of these songs, that I listened to and I said - You know I have got something here. Different than what I had done in the past, ...

  Shark Island: It is finally time to gather the faithful. Shark Island was a band that exerted enormous influence on the rock scene. Perhaps more than you realize.  The band was the biggest and best live act in Los Angeles in an era where there were literally hundreds of bands playing the Sunset Strip scene. Shark Island had it over all of them, yet of the bands to break out of LA into international fame, The Sharks had to wait the longest and cruelly never took their renowned charisma to the levels they deserved. Somewhere along the line it all went wrong – or as the band's charismatic frontman would put it, it wasn't ever just one thing. After more than a decade the band are back together and have a new album on the way and finally a home on the web under development - (www.sharkislandmusic.com). Vocalist/frontman Richard Black is a very private person who has kept his silence for many years now, but on the eve of a new Shark Island record, he breaks that silence in this exclusive interview.   Just fantastic to catch up with you Richard, thank ...

Steve Perry: A Legend Finds Peace Steve Perry has been atop my "want list" for interviews since I first started this site in late 1996. I was very lucky to talk to Jonathan Cain early in the picture about the Trial By Fire album and from there I got to talk to all members of the band. But the elusive Steve Perry interview remained a dream. Until this week. On Monday October 24, 15 years of wishing came to fruition. After a month or two of planning, Steve was ready to talk to me about the pending release of Journey's Greatest Hits 2 and the vinyl remastering for GH1 and Steve's own Street Talk solo release. Nerves in check, the following interview is exactly as the interview went. Nothing cut out and no questions dodged. Of course I would have liked even more time and gone into even more depth on several questions. But that would probably result in a book, not an interview! I'm very thankful to Steve for extending out interview time and to Sony Music and Lora @ FanAsylum for setting this interview up for me...after years of nagging! I hope you enjoy the read and ...