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Issue 24

www.rocknation.us

Exclusive Interview With:

Plus members of

CINDERELLA, KIX, HELIX, BLACK ‘N BLUE, BABYLON A.D.


ROUGH CUTT, BRITNY FOX, SAINTED SINNERS, ANGELS IN VEIN
PINNACLE POINT, TEQUILA SUNRISE, AOR, ROCK ALLIANCE, CYANIDE 4, VAN ARX, DNR, MAD MARGRITT, THE STEEL, AMERICAN REBEL SOUL & more!
PAGE 2 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 - 2017


PUBLISHER - Tom Mathers www.rocknation.us
INTERVIEW FEATURES:
NIGHT RANGER-Jack Blades.........................pages 4, 5
HELIX-Brian Vollmer............….................….....page 6
Rock Stars PINNACLE POINT..............................................pages 8, 9
wearing BABYLON A.D.-DEREK DAVIS .......................pages 10

ROCKNATION
BRITNY FOX-Tommy Paris............................pages 11
ROCK ALLIANCE .............................................pages 12, 13
T-Shirts on stage TEQUILA SUNRISE..........................................pages 14 &15
T-Shirts available at: CINDERELLA-Jeff Labar.................................pages 16
www.perrisrecords.com BLACK ‘N BLUE-Jaime St. James .................pages 17
KIX-Brian Forsythe ..........................................pages 19
AOR...................................................................pages 20. 21
ANGELS IN VEIN..............................................pages 22 & 23
PAUL SHORTINO..............................................pages 24
DAVID REECE...................................................pages 26
MAD MARGRITT................................................pages 27
DREAMSNOWREALITY....................................pages 28 & 29
CYANIDE 4 .......................................................pages 30 & 31
VAN ARX ..........................................................pages 32 & 33
XTASY................................................................pages 34
AMERICAN REBEL SOUL................................pages 36 & 37
NORSEMEN COMPANY....................................pages 38
PETRO...............................................................pages 39
THE STEEL.......................................................pages 40 & 41
THE SPIDERS...................................................pages 42
RED REIGN.......................................................pages 44
ABANDONED SOULS......................................pages 46
CONFESS..........................................................pages 47

LOADED MAD MARGRITT


VITNE................................................................pages 48
MONKEYSOOP.................................................pages 49
CASSIDY PARIS...............................................pages 50
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 3

inspired us to
t kic ked ass . It’s tha t “Decade Of Decadence” that
ute to a dec ade tha s rock that
Welcome to Hard80s Radio, a trib y lice nse d mu sic . No t onl y will we play the hard hitting 80’
t of sorts, wit h full talking to the
launch Hard80s Radio, a podcas ries and lov e of this decade gone by. We also will be
l offer up our me mo rising back to
has now become classic…we wil stio n! We hav e not for got about new melodic rock that is
m the decade in que bring the
artists that help create and for s Att itud e” and hel p pro mote the artists that continue to
Music With Har d80 r and Facebook
the top…We will give you “New tak ing the tim e to roc k wit h us and please join us on Twitte
nk You for
melodic rock to the masses. Tha (Scorpions),
as Jac k Bla des (Ni ght Ranger), Herman Rarebell
wed many arti st suc h lix), Jason McMaster
CBlock & Hammer have intervie For syt he (Ki x), Jef f Lab ar (Cinderella), Brian Vollmer (He (Junkyard),
Brian Damage Lynch (Autograph), David Roach
Robin McAuley (MSG,Survivor), Jaime St. Jam es (Bl ack ‘N Blu e), Ste ve
ny more.
(Dangerous Toys, Broken Teeth), a), Mark Gus Scott (Trixter), Mick Sweda (Bulletboys) and ma
Keith Dougl as (To ra Tor

It Ju s t R o c k s !

www.hard80sradio.com www.facebook.com/hard80sradio https://twitter.com/Hard80sradio


PAGE 4 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

TRACK 5

H A R D 8 0 ’S ra d io track 5.
te rv ie w e d b y CBLOCK for Don’t Let Up”and more.
Jack Blades in NIGHT RANGER’s new CD “
t
Jack talks abou

Photo by Ash Newell Photography


ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 5

.
u d io al b u m fr om Night Ranger
e 12th st nus
e re le as e o f “D on’t Let Up”, th ea tu ri n g b o n us track and bo
nounce th xe edition (f lmination
n ti er s M u si c S rl is proud to an a st an d ar d ed ition and a delu ay ”, “D o n ’t L et Up” is the cu ing
Fro
U p ” w ill b e available in both fi rs t si n g le “S omehow Somew le m el o d ic cu ts and hard rock
“Don’t L et ated by th e ith incredib uld ask
- p h ys ic al fo rm at only). Anticip th e b an d ’s 35 th anniversary w th e fa n s, b o th old and new, co
DVD celebrates everythin g a day.
e b an d ’s w ork to date and h t R an g er ’s new album has re at h in g ro ck ‘n roll 24 hours
f th ig d b says
o
S el f p ro d u ce d by the band, N su lt o f fi ve m u sicians living an ly R o ck an d R oll, but I like it,”
number s. the re ow “It’s On a great
Let Up” album is to let the fans kn n’t Let Up” was
for! “The “Don’t ag ai n re ad y n ew al b u m “D o ng
o n an d N ig h t Ranger is once o rk in g o n th e material for the er ri , an d Ja ck . I’m really looki
35 year s y adds, “W rad, Eric, K ger
d es o f th e n ew album. Keag ar d to cr ea ti ng music with B g fo rw ar d to th e new Night Ran al
B la
o n ce ag ai n . I always look fo
rw
th e fa n s. It ro ck s!” “I’m lookin e b an d s cr ea ti ve flow. As typic
experience
some of this mat
erial for l to keep th h Jack
ar d to p la yi n g le as u re re le as ing new materia g tw in le ad vo cal tradeoffs wit
forw always a p ce, includin d the
d io ef fo rt ‘D o n ’t Let Up’ as it’s ad e u s p o p u la r in the first pla cr im e, K er i K elli. We’ve stacke g
stu
h av e al l th e elements that m so lo s w it h m y new partner in
st ic b al la d tr ac ks. We’re hopin
for NR, w e onies and a few acou an
ual guitar harm mpo tunes and is. With more th
and Kelly and d g rock so n g s, m id te
catalog!!!” en th u se s G ill
audience,
up tempo drivin ng Night Ranger 1 billion in radio
deck again with to yo u r ex is ti d m o re th an nd.
this new album
will be added
30 00 liv e sh o w s performed, an d st yl e o f th at era and beyo
e, over ck sound an fan-base,
s sold worldwid ded the arena ro r ever-growing
17 million album an d tr an sc en to ex p an d th ei ess.
t R an g er h as both epitomized p o p u la r cu lt ure and continu
e
fe ct fo rm u la fo r continued succ
Nig h y impacte d s is the per
h so n g s th at h ave significantl p lu s ac co m p lished musician
Wit ful songs,
ig h t R an g er is proof that power
N

All photos including cover by Ash Newell Photography


HELIX
PAGE 6 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

BRIAN VOLLMER
Hello Brian and welcome to Rocknation How is your solo CD
“Get Yer Hands Dirty” coming along?
We just finished recording today, with the exception of Danko Jones
singing opposite to me in the lead track and album title song: GET
YER HANDS DIRTY.

You have some special guest appearing please mention some of


them.
Danko Jones will be singing a duet with me (as mentioned above).
Cheryl Lescom also did some great background vocal tracks. She’s
Canada’s best blues singer as far as I’m concerned. Gavin Brown not
only produced but also played drums. He’s a talented musician with
some great chops. as is Sean Kelly, who played guitar. Sean plays with Lee Aaron, Nelly Furtado, Alan Frew, & Honeymoon Suite and we’ve
been writing partners since the VAGABOND BONES CD. Daryl Gray, who also is in Helix, played bass.

Your producer Gavin Brown is a top producer in Canada. He has did some big bands can you name some of them.
The Trews, Tragically Hip, The Barenaked Ladies, Billy Talent, My Darkest Days, Danko Jones, and many more top flight recording acts.

Helix has some HUGE shows coming up all over the world, please tell us about that.
Over the past couple of years we’ve played the MOR Boat Cruise from Miami to The Bahamas, Ribfest in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
w/Loverboy, April Wine, & Honeymoon Suite (15,000 attendance-smashed records!), Rocklassiker last December in Stockholm, Sweden,
as well as a short 3 date tour of Spain, and a two and a half week stint across Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, & Norway. This
summer our only date outside the country is Sweden Rock, as it’s Canada’s 150th birthday and we’re playing a lot of festivals/casinos at
home. In July we’re in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Lloydminster Alberta, Winnipeg, and possibly Brandon, Manitoba. In August we’re in
Kelowna, British Columbia, which is right in one of the most beautiful spots in Canada-the Okanagan Valley which cuts through the
Canadian Rockies. Most of us are staying out there for the week and partying it up as the next weekend we’re in North Vancouver with
Randy Bachman & Honeymoon Suite. The next morning we fly to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to play with Kenny Shields & Streetheart, as
well as Ian Thomas. Streetheart was the band that spawned LOVERBOY, as Matt Fredette, Paul Dean, and Spider Sineuve were in both.

HELIX IS going back to Sweden Rock festival in June how cool is that?
Very cool. We had a # 1 album in Sweden in 1985 with LONG WAY TO HEAVEN and toured completely around the country, even inside the
Arctic Circle. Helix played Sweden Rock around the year 2006, but the line-up at that time was unrecognizable to what fans, who followed the
80’s line-up, wanted to see. We’re coming back this time with a tighter show and three of the original 80’s members: myself, Daryl Gray, and
Greg “Fritz” Hinz. My friend Danny Hines from WEAPON is coming out to the show with his wife Malim, as they live in Stockholm. They’ve
been friends of mine for years. As well, Geir Arne Dale, from HUMBUCKER, whom we toured with across Europe in 2014 (and who is also on
Perris Records) is coming to catch the show. I’m scheduled to sing a song on Geir’s solo CD which is coming out sometime in the future.

What plans do you have for 2017?


Touring. Organizing the Helix movie, putting together a video for the newest Helix original THE DEVIL IS HAVING A PARTY TONITE, releasing
new material, and working my solo CD. Lots to do.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
Producing new music is why I got into this business. I talk to a lot of my peers who have ceased recording and I think it’s a shame really....
I’ll be doing this thing called the music biz until I can’t sing any more. I figure I have a few years left in me yet. My/Helix’s fans are the
greatest, and that’s why we stay after every show signing autographs, taking pictures, and shaking hands. Without them we would cease to
exist. This ride could endtomorrow for I know, so I cherish every minute I can still do it. To all you young musicians out there-follow your
heart, do what you love, and money will eventually follow. Even if you don’t become “rich”, if you can make a living doing this, well then,
that’s an accomplishment in itself. Besides, it’s like Aerosmith says, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”

Brian Vollmer Gavin Brown Sean Kelly


ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 7

HELIX For more information visit:


“Back For Another Taste”
Catalog # PER5312 UPC Barcode 670573053125
A 2016 Re-Issue CD with new artwork including
perrisrecords.com
different photos in CD booklet. This is a
limited pressing of only 500 CDs.

HELIX
“half ALIVE”
Catalog # PER5292 UPC Barcode 670573052920
A 2016 Re-Issue CD with new artwork
including different photos in CD booklet.
This is a limited pressing of only 500 CDs.

HELIX
“Live in Buffalo”
Catalog # PER5272 UPC Barcode 670573052722
A 2016 Re-Issue CD with new artwork
including different photos in CD booklet.
This is a limited pressing of only 500 CDs.

HELIX
“Rockin’ In My Outer Space”
Catalog # PER5282 UPC Barcode 670573052821
A 2016 Re-Issue CD with new artwork
including different photos in CD booklet.
This is a limited pressing of only 500 CDs.

HELIX
“B SIDES”
Catalog # PER5262 UPC Barcode 670573052623
A 2016 Re-Issue CD with new artwork
including different photos in CD booklet.
This is a limited pressing of only 500 CDs.

CDS NOW AVAILABLE HELIX


“It’s A Business Doing Pleasure”
AT ALL FINE MUSIC Catalog # PER5302 UPC Barcode 670573053026

STORES INCLUDING:
A 2016 Re-Issue CD with new artwork
including different photos in CD booklet.
This is a limited pressing of only 500 CDs.
PAGE 8 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Interview with Torben Enevoldsen

For fans of Kansas, Deep Purple, Journey and Seventh Key. Fusing classic hard rock with the complexity of
British prog rock, Pinnacle Point revolves around the songwriting abilities of Jerome Mazza (Ex-Angelica) and
Torben Enevoldsen (Fate, Acacia Avenue, Section A ) The two met on Facebook around Christmas time of 2015,
and soon after decided to write some songs together. The songs turned out extremely well and the idea of
doing a full album together quickly emerged. During the spring and summer of 2016, Torben and Jerome wrote
songs individually, as well as swapping ideas back and forth. The recordings were done simultaneously and by
the end of the year, all songs had been recorded, mixed and mastered. Jerome Mazza did all of the vocals, but
also played keyboards on a few songs. Torben played guitar, bass and keyboards, but to make the songs truly
come to life, Torben and Jerome asked some of their friends to help out with the recordings. The album
features guest performances by Howard Helm on keyboards, Cara - C on violin and Dan Orlando on piano.
To help keep a steady groove, Torben asked his good old friend Dennis Hansen (Acacia Avenue, Section A) to
play the drums. The album was produced by Jerome and Torben and mixed and mastered by Enevoldsen at his
Funny Farm Studios in Denmark. Pinnacle Point is feel-good music; catchy, direct and mesmerizing. Jerome’s
strong and impressive voice delivers songs with memorable hooks and an adept flow, able to go from soft to
hard, and from soulful to edgy to sincere. While world-class guitarist Torben’s dexterity allows him to fluidly
shift between his honed technique and improvised, infectious riffs and brilliant melodies. With an album ready
for release in 2017, expect to hear more from this majestic new band, Pinnacle Point.
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 9

Torben Enevoldsen
Hello Torben and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats on your release of your PINNACLE POINT
“Winds Of Change” album. Please tell us about how you started PINNACLE POINT and what
other artist is involved in this. Thanks a lot. Well, Jerome Mazza and myself met each other on
Facebook and quickly became friends. We started discussing the possibility of working together and
Jerome then sent me a few of his song ideas. I loved them and started working on them right away.
We began sending ideas back and forth and before long, we had more than enough material for a full
album. You can say that it was at that particular moment that Pinnacle Point was born. We needed a
good drummer so I asked my good friend, Dennis Hansen, to participate. He loved the material and
was in on the idea right away. The three of us are the main band. Howard Helm, Dan Orlando and
Cara -C are all special guests on the album and adds a lot of flavor to the songs.

Please name some of the tracks and what they are about. ”Damage Is Done” is roughly about
having done somebody wrong and having to face up to that, although it’s hard. “Changes” is about
being stuck in your life, being frustrated and in need of a change. “Part Of Me” is about having lost
true love and trying to come to terms with that. Pretty much all of the songs on the album deals with
the subject of love in one way or another.

Who did the CD artwork for “Winds Of Change” and do you give the artist ideas or do you let them just create freely? A Swedish artist named
Carl-André Beckston did the artwork. We have actually worked together now for more than 10 years. Sometimes I do have somewhat specific ideas in
mind, but it’s mostly stuff like color or mood, so I still very much feel that I let André create freely and I only weigh in on minor details really. I always look
forward to see what André comes up with and I am yet to be let down.

You also keep busy with other bands like Acacia Avenue, Fate, Fatal Force & Section A. What other projects are you working on right now?
I am currently working on a new all instrumental album and I also write and record for other artists and do session work. There’s always a lot going on.

Are you recording any tracks for other artist’s release this year? I am involved in various projects right now, but I am not able to give you any specific
details just yet, sorry.

You have your own studio called ”Funny Farm Studios” in Denmark. Have you ever recorded other bands or just your own music? I do work with
other bands and artists in my studio once in a while, but it’s not often. It’s not that I don’t want to, but I am always busy working on my own projects so I
rarely have the time.

What plans do you have for 2017?


Jerome is going to sing a couple of songs on the new Acacia Avenue album and later on this year, we expect to start working on new songs for a brand new
Pinnacle Point album.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
My pleasure. I hope that everyone will check out our new album and stop by our Facebook page for various updates:
https://www.facebook.com/pinnaclepointtheband/

Jerome Mazza
Dennis Hansen
PAGE 10 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

DEREK DAVIS

DEREK DAVoIS
ul TRACK 10
Revolutionary S
989
Catalog #PER44
UPC Barcode
700261449890

Derek Davis interviewed by CBLOCK for HARD80’S radio track 10.


Photo by: Ron Boudreau
Derek talks BABYLON A.D. and about his solo CD “Revoltionary Soul”.
(This is a sample for the full interview please visit: www.hard80sradio.com)
Derek Davis, former Arista Records recording artist and Babylon A.D. front man follows up the successful
reception of his first solo debut REVOLT with his new 12-song release, REVOLUTIONARY SOUL—a diverse
collection of songs in which Davis pens nine, plays all instruments, sings, arranges, and produces. Davis’s
exploration of combining old school R&B, Funk, and Hard Rock is awe-inspiring and leaves the listener
wanting more. The funk driven, hard-hitting title track “Revolutionary Soul” delivers the angst and vocal
delivery he is known for. Both lyrically and musically the track speaks to the frustration and passion of the
forgotten man intoday’s ever changing world. The second track “Rapture” is a sensual tale of a cat and
mouse encounter between the sexes with an infectious groove. A brand new version of the Amy Winehouse
hit “Valerie” shows Davis can take any song and turn it on its head to make it his own. With “Think About It,”
“Love and Abuse,” and the 1923 Jimmy Cox blues song “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,”
Davis brings out the horn sections, B3, and some great storytelling, along with some tasteful guitar leads.
The sultry ballads “Vicious Heart,” “King of Fools,” and “Stop! Wait a Minute” paint a beautiful landscape
of broken hearts and lost love. Bobby Womack’s “Woman’s Gotta Have It” and “Picture of Love” keep the
soul train moving right along. On the last track, “All The Roads,” Davis lyrically bares his soul—emotionally
and spiritually—providing a glimpse of his inner self, while weaving a sonic atmosphere of guitar sounds
deep into the mind of the listener.Derek Davis is a creative and talented performer, singer, songwriter,
musician, and producer who delivers it all with REVOLUTIONARY SOUL!
TOMMY PARIS BRITNY FOX
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 11

Hello Tommy and welcome to Rocknation. Everybody’s asking are there any Britny Fox shows
scheduled this year?
I don’t believe so. I’m forming my new solo band and we’re planning on launching the new
group this year.

Everybody knows you’re one helluva singer and guitar player but you’re also playing
keyboards in Count 77’s band. Is there anything you can’t do?
I can’t cook for shit. That’s my wife’s forte!

How did you line up that gig?


In 1989, I was negotiating with Mike Varney to sign my band “JILLSON” to his Shrapnel
Records label. I ended up joining Britny Fox in 1990 and never signed with him but we remained
friends over the years. In 1992 I was recording “Bite Down Hard” in LA with Britny Fox which
was produced by John Purdell and Duane Baron who were completing production on Ozzy’s Photo by Tammy Vega
“No More Tears.” Fun time! The engineer on our sessions was Sean Odwyer who has since
engineered for Pink Floyd, Roger Waters and a ton of other great artists. Fast forward to 2014. Mike Varney and Sean Odwyer are producing/
engineering Count’s 77 debut CD at Desert Moon Productions in Las Vegas. They were close to completing all of the tracking but wanted
some Hammond B-3 Organ parts added before they began to mix. Mike and Sean referred me to the band. I went down to Desert Moon
and arranged the parts with Stoney Curtis (Count’s 77 main guitarist) and we got the bits recorded. I went on my way and they started mixing.
About a month later, Danny and the band asked me to join them as a full time member to play the Hammond parts as well as sing the main
background vocal parts at the shows. 3 years later, we’re still performing shows all over the US and Canada. Great bunch of guys and a fun
band to be in!

Now lets dive into your new solo CD. Tracks like “LONG LONG WAY2GO” and “READY TO BLEED,” I could hear those on the next Britny Fox
CD. Did you purposely go for writing in that same style as Britny Fox?
I had no designs or preceonceived notions about what style this new music was going to be when I was writing it. All I knew for sure was
that I wanted the end result to be an album of songs that excited ME first, which is a tall order because I’m really hard on myself and end up
scrapping a lot of the tunes I write. I just set out to write a brand new album of songs that were right to the point; heavy, exciting and fun to
play and listen to. I’d write a few songs and then get in a room with some of my fellow Las Vegas musicians whom I respect and enjoy being
around. We’d crank everything up to unGodly volumes and give the songs a go. If something didn’t excite me, I’d scrap it and move on to the
next song. It was quite an undertaking to accomplish the recording of this CD and make myself happy with it but I must say that when all the
smoke finally cleared, I was pleased with the results. It’s available at shop.tommyparis.com

The track “YOU LOSE” I see a different style on that one, what were your infuences on that one?
I had this riff rolling around in my head for a while. I really liked it. Jamming on it at un-Godly volumes with the other musicians was great
fun! I had just written lyrics about advice my dad had given me long ago and it just started to fit the song when the singing was placed
inbetween the main riff.

Are you lining up any concert dates for your solo band?
Yes, we’re in the process of forming the new band right now with the sole purpose of playing live shows asap.

Have you picked your band members yet?


Yes, I’m excited to say that Johnny Dee from Doro and Britny Fox is playing drums in the new live band!
We’re speaking to some great lead guitar and bass players from known bands as well as some brand new
undiscovered talent as well. We’ll make an official announcement once the lineup is solidified.

What other plans do you have for 2017?


My plans for 2017 are getting my new band formed and out there on the concert circuit asap. I will
continue to play Count’s 77 shows as well. That’s it on my
agenda for the rest of this year.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to
the fans?
I want to thank everyone for buying the CD and downloading
MP3s from shop.tommyparis.com ! Thanks to all the radio
stations for airing it and to the fan’s solid support and great
reception of this new album! People have been giving the
CD really exciting reviews and I’m so grateful for everyone’s
energy; you guys are the best!! I hope to see you on tour
this year, sooner rather than later! ~Cheers!

Photo by Joe Schaeffer Photo by Myglobalmind


PAGE 12 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Rock Alliance was put together by song writer/musician Stewart Sutherland. Sutherland, founding member
and bass player for the band Black Stone, wanted to create a high energy project featuring prominent rock
musicians from around the globe. Soon to join the casting call were vocalist Eric Langlois (LIFT), Marco
Bressette (Protest The Hero, Dead Tired), Kenny Aronoff (Mellencamp, Fogerty) and John Rabbit Bundrick
(The Who, Johnny Nash) and Phil Robertson (Burton Cummings). In 2015 Rock Alliance hit Jukasa Studios to
cut some tracks. Production was handled by the Juno Award winning duo of Darren Jeter Magierowski and
Jill Zimmerman. Two tracks from the sessions, Bad News Travels Fast and the aptly titled Rock And Roll
Resurrection received airplay around the world. In fact, Rock And Roll Resurrection became one of the most
played rock songs on digital radio. Rock Alliance soon gained traction and other musicians were invited to
contribute such as Chris Moore and Jason Pierce (Our Lady Peace, Paramore). Rock Alliance returned to
Jukasa in 2016 to record enough tracks to complete an album which will be released later this year.
The group is in the process of negotiating with label representation and distribution. With the recent
release of the hot new single Radio, the group is ready to put together a line up for some live shows.
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 13
Photo by Janette Sutherland

Hello ROCK ALLIANCE and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats to your band on the release of your self titled
album on Perris Records. How do you feel now your new CD will be released to radio, magazines and to the fans
worldwide in 2017?
We’re really pleased to have signed with Perris Records, a company that truly understands rock music. Like any artist,
you write and record music to communicate with an audience. It’s a two way street, you can’t have one without the other.
The more people you can reach the better. So it’s really cool to have a company like Perris to help expose our music
through radio, magazine and other promotions.

Please tell us who is in the band and how you had all these famous artist record with you for this release.
Rock Alliance was created to allow like minded rock musicians to make classic rock and roll. Quite a few
accomplished players took part in the sessions. We had mainstays that participated on all the tracks like myself (Stewart
Sutherland) on bass, Eric Langlois on vocals and Marco Bressette on guitars. The three of us are experienced
musicians having played in many bands and acts over the years. After we wrote and demoed the songs, we reached out
to different musicians that are known throughout the rock world. The guys were very receptive and gave us some really tight
performances. It was a pleasure to work with Kenny Aronoff, Jason Pierce, John Rabbit Bundrick, Chris Sutherland, Chris Moore and Phil Robertson. Having
different people contribute on every track give each song a different groove. We had a blast.

Please name some of the tracks and what they are about.
The tracks on the album are all straight ahead rock songs. Rock And Roll Resurrection sets the tone and it’s exactly what it’s title implies. It’s about bringing
rock music back to the forefront. Stop following American Idol and instead follow the path our rock gods have set before us. Let the music do the talking. Bad
News Travels Fast is a nod to classic blues-tinged rock you can find on an early Whitesnake album. 3 Men 3 Horses rides a cool Kenny Aronoff groove all the
way to the next sunset. Radio is a soaring tribute to a medium that was the number one source to discover new music. There are heavier tracks like Kick and
Bring The Fight. Overall, I think the album is pretty diversified.

Your Production was handled by the Juno Award winning duo of Darren Jeter Magierowski and Jill Zimmerman.
Please tell us about that experience. Working with Darren and Jill at Jukasa Studios was a treat. The studio is a world class facility. The album was
recorded on the SSL8000G console that was located at Abbey Road Studios in the U.K. There’s some sweet magic in that board and Darren and Jill know
how to wield it. Darren is great at coaxing out your best performance and both he and Jill are perfect at pacing the sessions to allow for some excellent
creativity. We look forward to working with them again.

You had some success with releasing some singles to radio already, please tell us about that.
We’ve released three singles to radio. Rock And Roll Resurrection spent a good part of last year as one of the most played rock songs on digital radio.
Our song Radio is getting some airplay on both sides of the Atlantic and hit the charts as one the top played independent rock songs on some U.K. stations.
We’re looking forward to a more coordinated promotion with Perris Records to help get the songs more airplay.

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
That’s probably the toughest question someone can ask us. You definitely don’t want to compare yourself to your main influences because you tend to elevate
them to some higher level. I’d like to say we sound like ourselves. That’s what you strive for as an artist, to have your own voice and sound. But I guess you
can’t help emulating your influences a little. So there might be a hint of G n’ R, Motley Crue and Van Halen sprinkled in our sound.

What plans do you have for 2017?


We’re super stoked for 2017! We look forward to the official Perris release of album in April. We’re also putting together a killer line up to play some shows.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
We want the fans to know that rock and roll is not dead. Together we can rise from the ashes of formulated music and help bring rock back to the top! Cheers!

Photo by Stan Wesley Photo by Mark Prior Photo by Stan Wesley


PAGE 14 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Hello TEQUILA SUNRISE and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats to your band on the release of
your “ Danger Zone” album on Perris Records. How long has the band has been together and how did
you form the band?
Hi, thank you very much. First of all, we would like to say that we are very proud of our signing with Perris
Records, we think it is a good opportunity for us. Perris Records has gave us the chance to get into the
American market, something quite difficult for us if we would not have the support of an american label. That
someone like Perris believes in what we do, makes us to feel that everything is starting to get sense.
CECI - The band was founded around 2010-2011 and for almost four years we were doing auditions for
singers, but we did not find exactly what we wanted. While we were still looking for a singer, we continued
working and composing more songs and playing covers. Once we got the band closed, we decided to go to the
studio to record Nasty Habits, our first work. After that became concerts, rehearsals, and we started thinking
about the recording of Danger Zone.

Please name some of the tracks and the story behind them.
CECI - “Danger Zone” is a song about the need for a radical change. People should stop talking about things
and take action, take initiatives and become aware that we’re all a great force if we decide to take the right way
together. “Stay on the Wild Side” was one of the first songs that we composed for this album. It´s like a
bullet in your brain, it’s something like the rock version of the expression carpe diem. Invites to forget the old
social stereotypes. The wild side is all those things that we want to do sometimes and we can’t or we don’t
dare. Somehow it’s like being a reckless kid again.

Jorge - The rest of the songs face


different angles,
withdifferent
approaches. “Risk
It All” is all about
love while “She”
talks about a very
different kind of
relationship.
“My Way (Or The
Highway)” talks
about the fact that
is you who should
control your life your
own way. “Coming
Home” is an ode to
the self-conscious-
ness that sometimes
you need to return to
your roots… as you
can see each
song is its own world.
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 15

You received some worldwide press on your


“Nasty Habits” EP CD. Please tell us about that.
Rubén - We feel fortunate because since we released our first
work, the feedback has been always positive. There were many
people waiting for our new studio album, in Europe, America and
Asia, great expectations have been created thanks to the E.P.
Jorge -Yeah, Rubén is absolutely right about this. We were
launching our E.P. without any expectations beyond showing
what Tequila Sunrise can become, but the response has been
awesome. It is really a breakthrough to impact beyond your
own mother land with just an EP and that encouraged us to
give it all with our first studio album.

What other bands have you appeared with in concert?


Rubén - We have shared stage with national and international
bands. Strangers, Frenzy or Maverick are some of the
Spanish bands we have appeared with. Also, we were opening shows for
Bonfire and King Kobra, it was pretty awesome for us.

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
Ceci - Uff, you put me between a rock and a hard place: Mr. Big, Ratt, Toto, Journey, Van Halen, Dokken,
Hurricane, Danger Danger, Shadow King, Signal, Lion, King Kobra… The sound of the band is pretty eclectic, with a
bunch of different flavors and signatures we bring from other people we use to play with, so that is the reason we are
not only a hard-rock or a rock band, we play music the way we want trying to stay away from the cliche.

What bands have the biggest influence for song writing for your music?
Jorge - Being such an eclectic band all members have their own influences. In my case Queen and Whitesnake are
the greatest ones. But that’s really the soul of the band; different ways to approach music joined together so we
can have something special in our sounds and songs, and I guess that’s something you can appreciate in our
compositions.

What plans do you have for 2017?


Ceci - Work harder, try to do a lot of gigs, as many as we can, we would love to be able to do some gigs in the
U.S.A. Spread our music and continue composing new songs for another album. Show Tequila Sunrise to everybody
and try that people who trust in our music are proud to do so.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
Thanks a lot to you for this interview, it has been a real pleasure. Millions of thanks for supporting and relying on
Tequila Sunrise. The people who support our music are the only reason to continue working harder.
Jeff LaBar CINDERELLA
PAGE 16 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

TRACK 15
Jeff LaBar interviewed by CBLOCK for HARD80’S radio track 15.
Derek talks about CINDERELLA stories and more.
(This is a sample for the full interview please visit: www.hard80sradio.com)

Best known as the longtime lead guitarist for the 1980s glam pop-metal band Cinderella,
Jeff LaBar was born Jeffrey Philip LaBar on March 18, 1963 in Darby, Pennsylvania. He joined
Cinderella when original guitarist Michael Smerick (also known as Michael Kelly Smith) left in
1985, and remained the group’s lead guitarist through its subsequent configurations and
revivals through the first decade of the 21st century, as well as working with side projects like
Naked Beggars and Cheap Thrill. He released his first solo album, One for the Road, in 2014,
in which he played all the instruments himself except for drums, and handled all the
songwriting and singing. The results were not too far from a Cinderella album, consisting
of hard rock/pop songs done with a touch of the blues, and with an acoustic ballad or
two for pacing. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Jaime St. James


PAGE 17

TRACK 20
Jaime St. James interviewed by CBLOCK for HARD80’S radio track 20.
Jaime talks about BLACK ‘N BLUE stories and more.
(This is a sample for the full interview please visit: www.hard80sradio.com)

Black ‘N Blue are 80’s hard rockers who released four successful and critically acclaimed albums
through Geffen Records including their self-titled debut (1984), “Without Love” (1985), “Nasty Nasty”
(1986), and “In Heat” (1987), with the latter two albums produced by the legendary Gene Simmons
of KISS. The band, which featured Jaime St. James (vocals), Tommy Thayer (lead guitar),
Jef Woop Warner (guitar), Patrick Young (bass), and Pete Holmes (drums), started in Portland,
OR as a group of friends that came together to make their mark on 80’s hard rock.
The band eventually relocated to Los Angeles and was signed to Geffen Records.
Black ‘N Blue would go on to sell over a million albums throughout their tenure in the 80’s.
The band scored a hit single in “Hold On To 18” (which was featured on the group’s first release),
a track that is widely known as a hard rock classic and still has airplay on stations across the country.
PAGE 18 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

PINNACLE POINT For more information visit:


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Catalog # PER5462
perrisrecords.com
UPC Barcode 670573054627
For Fans of Kansas, Deep Purple,
Journey and Seventh Key.

TEQUILA SUNRISE
“Danger Zone”
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AOR
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STORES INCLUDING: For fans of The Black Crowes, Cry Of Love,


Badlands, Airbourne & Blackberry Smoke.
KIX
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 19

BRIAN FORSYTHE

TRACK 25

Brian Forsythe interviewed by CBLOCK for HARD80’S radio track 25.


Brian talks about KIX stories and more.
(This is a sample for the full interview please visit: www.hard80sradio.com)

KIX was founded in 1978 in Hagerstown, Maryland as The Shooze, then changed its name to The
Generators before eventually settling on KIX. They were considered one of Maryland’s top cover bands
prior to their signing with Atlantic Records in 1981. Though often lumped in with bands that many
consider to be glam metal or hair metal, the bands popmetal stylings on the first KIX record drew
inspiration from bubblegum pop and new wave as well as hard rock. Since then KIX has been
performing more and more shows at festivals, casinos and biker rallys across the country,
impressing promoters and fellow musicians with their top notch and highly entertaining performances
while driving home their status as one of rocks truly legendary live acts. KIX has also been in the top
billing the last two years on the wildly popular Monsters of Rock Cruise. KIX has a massive cult
following of fans that seem to turn up in big numbers to see them everywhere they play.
PAGE 20 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Hello Frédéric and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats on your release the “The Heart Of L.A” album. How did
you pick the tracks for this best of compilation album and how do these tracks differ from the past releases?

Thank you very much Tom. I think this new AOR album “The Heart Of L.A” is the very best you can get in the Aor/
Melodic Rock style. I’ve carefully selected 16 tracks (including 2 bonus tracks) with the best singers of the genre and
I’ve remastered them, so now they sound better than ever ! I’ve chose only the best tracks, that could all have been hit
songs in the 80’s. No fillers in this album! Just sheer quality with incredible guitar solos and vocal performances your
ears won’t believe. If you owned one of the 15 previous AOR albums, you will get only the best tracks in “The Heart Of
L.A” and you’ll never want to skip any songs. If you were not familiar with the all star AOR project, now is the chance to
discover the finest melodies, lyrics and singers you can imagine!

Please name some of the tracks and who they feature.

There are so many, the task is almost impossible. You’ve got 15 different singers who are legends in this style of mu-
sic. For example you’ve got Jesse Damon (From Silent Rage and who worked with Kiss) singing “Angels Never Sleep.
You’ve got the last song the great Fergie Frederiksen (From Toto) ever recorded and without a doubt one of his finest
performance in “Deep Whirlpool”. And What about Kevin Chalfant (The Storm, Journey, Shooting Star) singing “One
Foot In Heaven”, you’ll be blown away by his performance. But let’s not forget top singers like Steve Overland (FM),
Bill Champlin (Chicago), the girls from Chasing Violets (considered as the cream of female Aor) singing maybe one of
the best track of the album called “The Main Attraction”, David Forbes (Boulevard), Jim Jidhed (Alien), Chris Ousey
(Heartland), Paul Shortino (Quiet Riot) and so many other great names. Never in the same album so many stars
were featured! A dream came true!

You live in France now but didn’t


you stay in the West Coast in USA?
Please tell us about that.

I live between Paris and London now but


my roots are American. I lived in L.A. for
more than 10 years and I travel to the
USA several times a year. The American
way of life and the music scene are my
biggest influences. I recorded most of
my albums in Los Angeles and hope to
do many more in the future in my favorite
country in the world!

How did you make all the connections


to the artist you work with, any cool
stories?
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 21

I used to be a music journalist at a very young age.


When I was 13 and for more than 15 years I started
interviewing a lot of stars like Journey, Ted Nugent,
Queen, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, The Eagles, Toto,
Chicago, Cheap Trick, Status Quo, Thin Lizzy, Hall &
Oates, Pat Benatar, Fleetwood Mac, Foreigner, Asia
and hundreds of others. At the same time I recorded
demos and some of these guys helped me with my
music by playing a solo or singing on a demo here
and there. That way I got one of the biggest address
book you can imagine and before internet soars,
I contacted some of these guys but also many great studio
musicians I met and asked them to play on my records. I was lucky enough that most of these legends always took the time
to listen to my projects and some of them end up on my AOR Cd’s.

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?

When I started AOR, the sound was more “Westcoast” and laid back with influences like Toto, Christopher Cross,
Steely Dan, Player and many more. Then after the 5th album, i put my leather jacket on and started rocking like my idols
Foreigner, Survivor, Giant, Journey and Toto.

What bands have the biggest influence for song writing on your music?

My biggest influences for the vocals and melody lines is Foreigner. I’ve always had Lou Gramm’s voice in my head since I
started writing songs 40 years ago (wow I’m getting old ha! ha!). For lyrics and arrangements, I guess I was The Eagles who
had a strong effect on my music. Not bad, huh?

What plans do you have for 2017?

In 2017 I will be producing several cool projects and songs with new and old friends. But I don’t like to talk much about things
before they are completed. Let’s just say I will write soon a couple of songs with the legendary Jesse Damon and surely work
with the incredible Paul Sabu real soon too!

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?

Thank you for the great questions, and I’d just like to add that fans of the harder side of Aor will be blown away by
16 tracks out of this world. You will really get the best of what AOR can offer with “The Heart Of L.A”. And don’t
hesitate to check out my website or say hi! website: www.slama101.fr
PAGE 22 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

ANGELS
IN VEIN
Hello Chris and welcome to Rocknation.
You just dropped a new track a cover of
Don’t You (Forget About Me). How did
you pick that cover to record?
Thanks Tom, Love the magazine! It’s
actually the strangest thing, sort of a
great minds think a like scenario. I’d
been thinking about covering something
by a different artist for quite a while but
it’s a really tricky balance. You have to stay true to the original artists vision for the song while being able to bring something new
to the table. Otherwise there’s just no point. Just like everybody else, I’ve been hearing that song on the radio for years and it
would resonate with me. Still, while I was listening I’d think. What if they did this or changed that? That’s when it hit me. This was
a perfect song to cover! I called up Taz and told him what I was thinking and he just laughed. At first, I figured he thought I was
crazy but it turned out the reason he was laughing is because he had just worked up a rough version of that exact song. To tell
you the truth I was pretty stunned! I mean seriously, what are the chances? He sent me what he had been working on the same
day and we went from there. I know that I’m biased but I think we nailed it! It’s one of my favorite things we’ve ever done.

Your band shot a couple videos at Danny Koker’s - Desert Moon Productions Danny is famously known for the Counting Cars TV
show. How did you line up that?
Actually, using Danny’s place was originally Stacey Blades idea. Danny has a rehearsal studio here in Vegas that’s kind of a catch
all. It serves as a rehearsal room, recording studio and a large green room for shooting video. It’s actually part of the same
facility where Danny has his car museum and shoots a lot of the show. Since I was paying for it Stacey put me in touch with
Stoney Curtis. Stoney not only runs the facility but he’s also a brilliant guitarist. that plays in Count’s 77 which is Danny’s band
and is featured regularly on the show. Stoney and I hit it off right away and became friends. In fact, we became friends with all of
the guys in the band being as we have a lot in common. All being from Michigan and the surrounding parts. They’re all a great
very down to earth bunch of guys. As a band we were there a number of times but the videos you’ve seen we’re all shot
simultaneously in a single day. Afterwords I took home the raw footage and handled all the post production myself. I spent so
many hours in front of the computer I nearly went blind LOL!

Here is a fun fact Danny is from Michigan like you and TAZ, also his bass
player Barry Barnes is from Michigan and he was in my 1st cover band
out of High School 35 years ago. It is amazing how many musicians are
from Michigan do you get a chance to go back very often?
That’s so funny man! As a matter of fact Barry and I were talking about
this. He told me that he actually took you out for your 21st birthday and
got you hammered! Talk about a small world! I think one of the reasons
there are so many great musicians coming out of Michigan (and I’m sure
you’ll agree) is that with all the winter there’s nothing to do but sit in your
room and get good at your instrument. We dream about going to
California to make it big but I highly doubt the guys in California dream
about going to Michigan to shovel snow... As far as getting back to MI.
goes, All my family still lives there so I make a point of going whenever
I have a chance. The problem with that is, that I spend so much time on
the road that it doesn’t happen near as often as I would like.
COUNT’s 77 with Chris and Taz after video shoot.
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 23

How did you find your cover model Brin Amberlee Dillon for your artwork?
Brin is awesome! Despite all her “hotness” she’s a total badass and
completely down to earth. For your readers who may not know who she is, she’s
the modern-day version of what a supermodel used to be. The difference now is
everything is Internet-based. She has something like 1,000,000+ followers
worldwide. Brin and I actually got to know each other through my wife Kelly. Kel’
is a nail tech but she’s also a rockstar in her world. You’ll never hear her talk about
this but she’s done everyone’s nails from Mariah Carey down to Olivia Newton John
and Brin happens to be one of her friends and clients.The reason we decided to go
with Brin “other than the obvious” is because there’s a theme running through the
cover art of the singles and it will all come together when the actual album is
released. All the photos by the way were shot by a brilliant photographer named
John Charles of “Rebellion And Truth” John has shot just about everybody worth
mentioning in the industry and he also does work for the Grammys.

Your bass player Adam Kury has a track record with you in other bands right?
Absolutely, You should know, you were there the first time we met. Back in the early
90s Cherry Street was playing the Los Samanos festival in San Antonio Texas. There
were three bands on the bill that day that I remember. Us, April Wine and Legs
Diamond. Adam was the bass player for Legs at the time. We became friends and
have been ever since. Adam and I have worked on a number of projects together
including Boneyard and now Angels In Vein. We definitely want to get out and tour this thing but the priority is to get the
record finished up first. It’s challenging because of everybody’s prior commitments and scheduling conflicts. Taz has
Blue Ocean Music and is constantly producing, recording, and engineering different bands as well as AIV. Plus, he’s the
guitarist for Union Underground so he has a lot on his plate. Adam is the bassist for Candlebox who have been doing
quite a bit of touring and he’s also a brilliant engineer. Troy has been out pretty regularly touring with Gilby Clarke of
Guns N Roses band, The Raskins and there’s a new White Lion tour going out from what I’ve been hearing. Then there’s
me, I moved to Las Vegas seven years ago and I’ve been home maybe a total of one year since that time. I mostly perform
for Legends In Concert as Steven Tyler but I also have an Aerosmith tribute band called Aeromyth that keeps me busy
every down moment I’ve got. That’s actually how this whole thing came about. I needed to do something original just to
get a break from the tribute thing. That’s why I called Taz in the first place. Out of the gate it’s really just been a labor of
love. Nobody expected it to blow up the way it did. We never intended it to be about timelines. We just wanted to write
great music with no rules. That all changed when Stacey Blades and Eric Stacy heard the tracks that Taz and I had already
recorded and asked to be part of the band. Suddenly it went from, “The record gets finished when it’s finished” to, Holy
shit, we’ve got to get this done! We need to get out on the road....It became more about agendas then the music. Don’t get
me wrong, I’m not pointing fingers but when you’ve got guys that have been on the road for 15 years and that’s how they
are used to making their living it’s going to come up. There’s no blame here it just wasn’t working for everybody on all
levels so now things are pretty much back to the way we intended them from the beginning.

What plans do you have for 2017?


Right now I’m performing nightly at the Legends In Concert theater in Myrtle Beach
South Carolina through the beginning of September. I’ve got a recording studio with
me so while I’m here the band is working on getting the record finished up. We’ve
got enough strong material to actually take it live now. So hopefully we’ll be able
to make time to sneak in some live shows. We’ll continue dropping singles until the
album is ready to go and the plan is to release it In it’s entirety. Not only in a digital
format but on vinyl as well.After that, we’ll just see where it takes us!

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
It’s been a real pleasure. We have a loooong history together and I love seeing that
you’re doing so well! As far as the fans go, Thank you so much for all the support.
Without you, there wouldn’t be an us! You can check out the band at....
angelsinvein.com Angels In Vein on Facebook We’re also on Instagram and you
can find music and videos on YouTube, iTunes, Amazon and CDBaby.
PAGE 24 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Paul Shortino

TRACK 30
Paul Shortino interviewed by CBLOCK for HARD80’S radio track 30.
Paul talks about Rough Cutt & Quiet Riot stories and more.
(This is a sample for the full interview please visit: www.hard80sradio.com)

Veteran hard rocker Paul Shortino, best known for his high-profile work fronting Rough Cutt and Quiet Riot, is a vocal
master in the tradition of Paul Rodgers and Robert Plant, two of his all-time heroes. Rich, expressive and bluesy, his
intense lead vocals are delivered with the inspired fervor of a true rock ‘n’ roll believer. And that he is, as proved quite
consistently over the last two decades with a diverse string of independent projects.
If your ever in Las Vegas aka SIN CITY! You can catch Paul performing almost nightly at the #1 Show on the strip!
Raiding the Rock Vault at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel & Casino. RAIDING THE ROCK VAULT FEATURES AN ALL-STAR
BAND Paul Shortino -Lead Vocals (Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot) Howard Leese -Guitar (Heart, Bad Company) Doug Aldrich
-Guitar (Whitesnake) Robin McAuley -Lead Vocals (MSG, Survivor) Jay Schellen -Drums (Hurricane, Asia) Andrew
Freeman -Lead Vocals (Offpsring) Michael T. Ross -Keyboards (Lita Ford) Hugh McDonald (Bon Jovi, Ringo Starr)
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 25

THE HOME OF MELODIC ROCK CDs also available at:

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"Silhouette"
For fans of Survivor, Dokken,
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Boneyard Dog
“Bluesbound Train”
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Supernova Plasmajets
“Kings Of Nowhere”
80’s Glam Hardcore Superstar style

Jim Jidhed
“Push On Through ”
For fans of Hard Rock / AOR from Sweden
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Angels Or Kings
“Go Ask The Moon ”
For fans of Dare, Danger Danger
& AOR/Melodic Rock.

Niva
“Atmospherical”
For fans of AOR rock and Journey.

WWW.AORHEAVEN.COM
PAGE 26 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

David Reece

TRACK 35

David Reece interviewed by CBLOCK for HARD80’S radio track 35.


David talks about ACCEPT stories and more.
(This is a sample for the full interview please visit: www.hard80sradio.com)
David L. Reece is an American vocalist who has been active in the heavy metal rock scene professionally since the
late 1980s, recording with several bands in diverse genres including Bonfire from January 2015 to July 2016. He is best
known for his time with the band Accept, appearing on their 1989 album Eat the Heat.

SAINTED SINNERS, the new band featuring former ACCEPT singer David Reece, will release its self-titled debut album
on February 24 via El Puerto Records. The group’s lineup is rounded out by guitar player Frank Pané, keyboardist
Ferdy Doernberg (AXEL RUDI PELL) and the dynamic rhythm section of the two former PURPENDICULAR
members Malte Frederik Burkert (bass) and the Hungarian drum maestro Berci Hirleman.

Expressing the “pure essence of rock’n’roll”, was the ambition that paired five well-known and experienced musicians
together in early 2016, to create and play the music which is deeply inside their hearts and in their blood. The love for
rock legends, such as DEEP PURPLE, LED ZEPPELIN, RAINBOW, WHITESNAKE, UFO, BLACK SABBATH, VAN HALEN
and many others, built the cornerstone for the music of the new founded five-piece called SAINTED SINNERS.
MAD
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 27

MARGRITT
Hello Eddie and welcome to Rocknation. Your “Love, Hate and Deception”
CD was released last year are you currently writing songs for your next
release?
We have been super busy doing shows to promote “Love, Hate And
Deception”. We have only had one weekend off since the cd came out last
year so we really haven’t had a chance to start working on any new songs MAD MARGRITT with Barry Barnes
yet. After the summer is over we plan to get together and start writing again.

The first video was “Liar” and you thinking about doing another video for this release?
We will be doing at least one more video, possibly two before the end of the year. The plan is to shoot a video for the song “The One You
Love To Hate” sometime in the next month or two. We are currently scouting locations, looking for a cool looking place to shoot the video.
We may also shoot a video for one of the ballads. We haven’t decided yet which ballad we are gonna do the video for but we have never made
a video for any of our ballads so we are definitely giving it some consideration.

Mad Margritt appeared at the Pre-Grammy party at the Viper room in Hollywood please tell us about that.
We had an amazing time! We flew into Las Vegas a few days before the Pre-Grammy show and did a short set at Count’s Vamp’d. We stayed
in Vegas for a few days and then drove out to Hollywood. It was really cool hanging out on the Sunset Strip and checking out all the famous
clubs. We spent a lot of time at The Rainbow, that seemed to be the place we ended up at the end of every night. The highlight of the week
was the Pre-Grammy party at The Viper Room. That was such an amazing night, we had so much fun playing that show! A lot of our west
coast fans came out to see us so we had a really good crowd. Everyone was wearing their Mad Margritt t-shirts so that was really cool to
see!!

Have you ever played in Hollywood before?


No, that was the first time. We have played Vegas a few times before but this was our first time playing in Hollywood. We are hoping to get
back out there again soon, possibly later this year.

What was Vegas like playing at Vamp’s a very famous rock club?
I’ve been wanting to play there for a while so it was really cool to finally get out there. Some of the guys from the Count’s 77 band were there
so we got to meet them. The bass player Barry Barnes was super cool to us and hung out with us all night. We also got to meet Doug Aldrich
(Whitesnake, Dio, The Dead Daisies) and Phil Soussan (Dio, Billy Idol). We came back the next night and watched their Zeppelin Tribute band
“The Moby Dicks”. They put on an amazing show and Doug just killed it on the guitar. Best Zeppelin tribute show that I have ever seen!!

Did you band get a chance to check out Counts Kustoms while in Vegas?
We did, the next day after the Count’s Vamp’d show Barry gave us a tour of the place. He also gave us a private tour of the bands recording
studio and rehearsal area. He talked to us about possibly recording some stuff out there so hopefully we can get that all worked out.

What plans do you have for 2017?


We are just focused on doing live shows right now and promoting the “Love, Hate And Deception” cd. We are talking with some promoters
up in New York so we may be doing some shows up in that area again soon. After we got back from the west coast trip we did a bunch of
shows around the southeast. We played a few casinos recently and even performed on a cruise ship. Had a blast doing those shows so we
are looking at doing some more stuff like that before the year is out.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
We always appreciate the support we get from our fans. We have been doing this for a long time and we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon
so there will be a lot more Mad Margritt music coming at you!!!
PAGE 28 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Hello DreamsNowReality and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats to your band on the release of your album “DREAMFINITY
Deluxe Edition” on Perris Records. How long has the band has been together and how did you form the band?
It’s an honor to be interviewed by RN and to join the PERRIS family, thus we would like to start with saying thank you! The band was
founded in 2008 in Italy. The project was aimed to unite western and eastern styles, to become a combination between the classic hard
rock made in the USA and J-Rock/Visual Kei music. It was not easy to put these components together in this project with such ambitions,
but after 9 years of making music, going through ups and downs, we are still here! We really want to do our best and keep on surprising
you!

You have 3 bonus tracks please name them and what they are about.
Let’s start with the funniest one – “Wasted by dawn” is a song telling about a typical after party. It was written after a tour in Japan, there
was this post concert atmosphere and we were hanging out all night long. We wanted to share the joy of being together. While listening to
this song you will feel the atmosphere of Rock Shuffle in Motley Crue style. “Make me yours” is surely the heaviest song among three. It’s
about a tormented relationship with a girl. We usually hear songs where the man leads the woman, but through the lyrics of the song we
see the opposite thing happening. You surrender to love, to be taken to a new world. If we should describe this song’s mood we would say
you can resume it with the initial single frantic riff. If you follow the band since the beginning of its journey you already know perfectly that
“Follow me my love” is one of our acoustic songs. We have also shot a music video for it and we wanted to take a chance to record it in
its original version as it was initially designed with no cuts. We pass from the piano intro to the special with the orchestra through different
rhythmical changes and atmosphere, with its durations of almost 5 minutes, an inconceivable duration for today’s 3 min 30 sec radio edit
style rock songs. Why having limits?

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
In our case it’s really hard to be labeled. On the one hand we can be considered as a hard rock band because of the vocals, just like
Def Leppard, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, etc. On the other hand, as you may have noticed, there are various Japanese contaminations, so it’s
fair to mention such bands as X-Japan, Luna Sea, D’espairs Ray, Nightmare and so on.

Please tell us about where the band has played concerts and other bands have you appeared with.
We were lucky to perform our concerts almost everywhere - in Europe, East Europe and even Asia, but unfortunately we have never been
to the USA. We hope this is going to change very soon! For the moment the biggest event we took part in was Vrock 2011, at the Saitama
Super Arena in Japan. We were honored to share the stage with more famous Japanese bands and also overseas bands such as Michael
Monroe’s one, Alice Nine, Versailles, Black Veil Brides, etc.
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 29

Your band has many pro-shot videos, Are you planning to do any videos for your bonus tracks.
Great idea! In fact, we were thinking about it. But this time we would like to try something new and make a lyric video, because
we already have several music videos. We were thinking about something we have never done before! We won’t tell you what
song it’s going to be, we don’t want to spoil the surprise!

What plans do you have for 2017?


First of all - getting back to the stage. We had to make a long break because of a car accident happened to our drummer.
We were forced to stop all live activities, but now we are ready to get back to what we love the most - performing live!

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
Thanks to RN for this opportunity! We are greeting our fans, those who already follow us and those who will give us a chance
after reading this interview. We hope we can take place in their playlists and fill the soundtrack of their lives with our music!

Photos by:
Shi Yun Lee
PAGE 30 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Hello CYANIDE 4 and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats to


your band on the release of your “Nekyia” album. This is
your 2nd album on Perris Records How long the band has
been together and how did you form the band?
The idea of forming a neoglamohardrock band was at the table
since 2006. It took 2 years to make it happen and in may of
2008 the band was formed and instantly recorded the first 4
track demo we named it complex.

Please name some of the tracks and what they are about.
Songs like ‘Getaway’, ‘Rock n roll hero’, ‘She-mystery girl’, ‘Love me when I’m dead’ and ‘Restless’ included on
our new album Nekyia. ‘Getaway’ is about how Christianity gained the battle of religions back in the day by the sword
not by peoples free will. ‘Rock n roll hero’ is about someone that has tried a lot in his life to fulfill his dreams but
without any luck. Then he decided to sell his soul to the devil to make it happen. ‘She-mystery girl’ is about a female
demon half a human and half a monster with birdlike claws and serpents tail that lives inside a person’s mind, been
fed by his emotions and his passions, more like the demon succubus. ‘Love me when I’m dead’ is about eternal love
without boundaries that even death cannot stop it. ‘Restless’ is about the flame that burns inside us,some of us we
are really determined to suck the juices of life, taking chances and live it, not lie it.

Why did you pick that name “Nekyia” for your CD title?
Nekyia is a chapter of the odyssey where Odysseus visits the world of the dead to find Mantis Tiresias and ask his
advice in order to find the way back to Ithaca. The hero was so determined to return to his kingdom that he even
visited Hades without any fear. So is about learning from the dead which was really inspiring at that time cause we
were possessed about matters around death.
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 31

The artwork layout is fabulous, who did the cover art for your CD? And what was your influence for the layout?
A friend of us is a graphic designer we gave him the idea of how we wanted this to be and he gave his best shot .. finally he
made it and we really dug his work

If you had to tell someone what your band sounded like, what bands would you mention?
Not sure really,we got some influences from the 80s glam metal era but its not the case.There is a mix of hard rock-punk-metal-
rock-goth elements. I’m not sure if there is a specific definition of what we play. We belong to the revival of the L.A. era but with
some heavier staff I cannot find so many similarities with other bands so i cannot really answer.

What bands have the biggest influence for song writing for your band? Metallica and Motley Crue.

What bands have you appeared with in concert? We have played with a lot of bands but I’d mention with Scorpions twice,
Lizzy Borden, W.A.S.P, Crashdiet & Ten.

What plans do you have for 2017? We want to play as many gigs as possible and probably record some new stuff during
the summer.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans? We hope that the fans are gonna enjoy and dig
the new stuff. We want to thank them all for their love and support.
PAGE 32 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Hello VAN ARX and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats to your band on the release of your album “Stand Together
for Rock and Roll” on Perris Records. How long has the band been together and how did you form the band?

Thank you very much, we’re happy to get the chance for that interview. VAN ARX started as school band over 30 years
ago. Well, I should not really write that, because it reflects how old we actually are. We played some quite successful
concerts and then split up for various reasons. When you are young, priorities change every day and none of us was brave
enough to follow a possible career in the music business. While each band member followed his own musical career in
different local bands, there was this magic moment with Tyler’s birthday. He invited all the musicians he played with during
the last few years to be on stage with him and perform some songs. Since we could not really remember the old original
songs and neither audio material was really available, we decided to play some cover songs. It was a blast for us and the
audience, we decided to bring VAN ARX back to life! First it was just fun, nothing very serious. But when we started to work
on new songs, we all had the feeling that we want to bring this project to a more professional level. We started to record
rehearsal sessions, and produced new songs with the home studio. That way we were able to perfect the songs. We also
worked on our image and show. It was clear that we needed to be somehow special to stick out of the masses. That’s when
we had the idea to look like we actually looked like back in the 80s - just a bit more exaggerated. Success and enormous
positive feedback at concerts confirms that this is the way to go.

Please name some of the tracks and the story behind them.

There’s a funny story behind the song “Stand Together for Rock And Roll”. We had this crazy idea to apply for being
Switzerland’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Maybe this event is not well known in the US, since it is a
European thing. It’s probably the largest and most famous music event all over Europe. About 40 countries send a singer
or a band to the event, a jury and the viewers vote for the best song. It’s a huge TV event and there are “ESC” parties
everywhere. As good as all entries are more like ballads or dance songs, seldom rock songs. But to get a chance, you
need to be different in any way. We went to the studio with a vague idea only. In one day, we wrote the song,
did the recordings and mixing. In a second day, we shot the
video and sent it in to the jury. They’ve got really very bad taste
and did not choose us. They took a very normal dance act for it
... and did not even make it to the final. We would have won that
thing ;-D We found songs from the original school band VAN
ARX on a Music Cassette. For the younger readers: A Music
Cassette was the only option to record something. It consists of
a magnetic tape where sound/audio gets recorded with
analogue technics. Actually it’s the same thing as a video
cassette - ok, you won’t know this thing either ... :-) However, we
chose “Rock Battle” and “Send The Devil To Hell”, originally
written in the years 1983 and 1984 and worked hard on them.
Many of the original parts are still in the songs. There were
arguments about it. Brew hated Rock Battle. He always stated,
that it’s a primitive school band song and for sure nothing
anymore for the grown up VAN ARX. But after recording it in the
studio and performing it live, he had to agree that it’s a classic
rock song and the fans love it. “It Is Over”, “I Want Some Girls”
und “She Did Anyway” is true stories out of the exciting life of
Tyler.
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 33

You have 3 lead singer’s how is compared to other bands?

Well, you can compare it to The Beatles or Kiss for example. In the early days, just Tyler
and Jake were singing. Only with the reunion, the two guys motivated Brew to sing as
well. We really love to sing and we’ve got very different voices and styles. This allows us
to be more flexible in song writing. We think it’s also great for the fans, since it won’t be
boring and they can pick their favorite singer.

Do you ever argue over who sings what parts?

Sometimes we clear the situation with a drinking contest. Last man standing decides.
OK, not really ... It’s not arguing really. Sometimes we all sing the same part or the same
song and record it. Then we decide, which voice will suite the song the best. Sure it can
happen that there are disappointments sometimes. But at the end, it’s the band that
counts! Often, Tyler writes a song and has already in mind, who will sing the song. That’s
the case with “Rock And Roll Master” for example. He wanted a rather strong and
powerful voice and therefore Brew was the chosen one.

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?

We play music from the 80s metal / hard rock scene. Sure enough there are influencers like Kiss, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest or AC/DC.
But we do not want to copy those bands, we are VAN ARX and we use to have our own style. Most important, we want to have fun
together with our fans, but we also want to deliver quality music

Does your band get compared to Steel Panther for the image?

We heard that before at some concerts. It’s an honor to be mentioned at the same time as Steel Panther. But there are definitely
differences. While Steel Panther is more on the funny side and more dirty. For sure, one goal counts for all rock bands out there:
We want to have fun! We want to entertain, deliver a great show and music to bang your head to.!

Please tell us about where the band has played concerts and other bands have you appeared with.

After some local concerts in smaller venues, we got the chance to play the opener for “The Iron Maidens” and also for “Sister”. It’s hard
work to make yourself well known if you are a newcomer or a returning band not heard from them in 30 years. We will play a headliner
Show in October in Switzerland and the Maidens asked us again to open up for them in November. We are very much looking forward to
that.

What plans do you have for 2017?

We will concentrate on songs for a new album. On the same time, we’re working on some opportunities to perform at some rock festivals
in 2018 to present the new album.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?

More than a pleasure! Thank you for having us. For more Information and for feedback, please visit us online at various locations:
WEB:
www.vanarx.com
www.facebook.com/vanarx
PAGE 34 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Hello Xtasy and welcome to Rocknation. How long


has the band been together and how did you form the
band?
Hi everybody!! Xtasy was born as a studio project between
Silvia and me (Jorge) some years ago. We started to work
in several songs and we recorded the first album both
together playing all the instruments and some guest on
drums. After our first album was recorded, we decided to
create the band. That means that we´ve been on the scene
for about 3 years.

Congrats to your new release “Second Chance”. Please name some of the tracks and the story behind them.
Thank you! Well, we tried not to focus just in love theme lyrics during the writing so we let our inspiration fly, opened up all of our senses
and saw that there were so many themes we would like to express about. That is how lyrics and song came up. “Children of war” (Fallen
angels), personal growth (One in a million), addictions (Under the gun), mistreatment (Open your eyes), the hardness of the exile (Broken
heart), Rock n´ Roll (Speed of light), etc... are some of the themes we have talked about in this album. Silvia is the one who write most of
the lyrics in the band.

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
Well, this is a difficult question because we have so much different influences, but I think the fans of Eclipse, H.E.A.T., Gotthard,
Whitesnake and Bon Jovi will love our music.

Your previous debut album release was “Revolution” in 2014. How do you compare it to your new release, what has changed?
First of all, now we are a real and complete band and for that reason in this album “Second chance” all the members we have worked as a
team. We have all been involved in all of the songs. In addition, with this new album we wanted to enhance the sound of the guitars, give
them more presence on the songs and leave the keyboards just a bit more on the background. We also worked on faster tempos to give
more energy and punch to the songs. We are really happy with the result.

What bands have you appeared with in concert?


With our first album Revolution we did a long Tour with 25 shows all over Spain and we had the chance to play as support band for many
bands like Dare, Helix, Tigertailz, Crazy Lixx or Spanish legends Barón Rojo. Three of the best Gigs were as special guest of Eclipse in a
Tour called Hard Rock Attack, where the Swedish band Toxic Rose opened the shows and it was a blast!. We also did 2 acoustic shows this
year as guest of Erik Grönwall and Dave Dalone of H.E.A.T. Amazing musicians and really nice guys.

What plans do you have for 2017?


Touring as much as possible in 2017 and 2018. We have done a 7
Date Tour in Spain as headliners and we have some more shows in
Spain after the summer. We are also working on a European tour next
year and we would love to have the chance to play in Japan. During
the summer we also want to start working in new songs as well, but
there will be not a new album until 2019.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the
fans?
Thank you once again for your support and a big hug to all our fans in
Japan. I hope that we can see us in your country as soon as possible.
See you !!
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 35
PAGE 36 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

AMERICAN REBEL SOUL


Hello American Rebel Soul and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats to your
band on the release of your self-titled album on Perris Records. How long
has the band been together and how did you form the band?

Thank you! American Rebel Soul just formed back in August 2016. Sean and
Jimmie started the band then added Jay. Dave and Dawn joined right before
heading into the studio. Some of us have known each other for years, but this is
the first time all five of us have worked together.

Please name some of the tracks and what they are about.

“No Apologies” was inspired by a comment someone had written who was going
through some troubled times; whatever demon you are dealing with at the mo-
ment, no one can truly apologize for someone else’s actions nor should they feel
guilty. “Ready to Roll” might be about a woman (or maybe just a car?) either way
she is beautiful but requires a lot of maintenance. “Tattooed Romeo” was written
by Jimmie about another band member who has a lot of tattoos, we will let you
guess which one that is.

If you had to tell someone what your band sounded like, what bands
would you mention?

We were going for a little blues and a little southern rock, our sound comes from a little of both. We think each of our
songs have a different style to them. People have compared us to Badlands, Cry of Love, and Blackberry Smoke.

What bands have the biggest influence for song writing for your band?

Our writing is definitely a blend of a lot of different influences coming from each of the band members. Sean’s riffs have
elements of old Alice Cooper, Kiss, and Badlands. Jay’s drumming brings in hints of Rush with a flair of funk. Jimmie’s
melodic bass lines reflect his love of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple; and his vocal style is reminiscent of AC/DC.
Lyrically, Dave always liked the way old country songs tell a story; and Dawn often has lyrics running through her head
inspired by the music created by the guys in the band.

Who did the cover art for your CD?


And what was your
influence for the layout?

Jimmie created the cover art and


layout stemming from Sean’s idea
of displaying each of us on playing
cards. The rebel flag is a nod to our
southern rock roots; Sean had the
idea of morphing it with the
American flag.

Your band members live in


different cities how does that work
out for rehearsals and
performing?

Practice time together is limited, so we


all have to do our homework.
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 37

When we get to a show, it all just falls


into place.

What bands have you appeared with


in concert?

We only did a few shows awaiting the


release of our album, which was
released on January 6,, 2017. We have
a few more shows lined up for this year
and planning on more. April 15th, we
have a show with other great original
bands like Steel March, One Track
Mind, and Johnny Got Rox. June 30th
we hit the stage with Faster Pussycat,
The Caveat, and Johnny Got Rox.

What plans do you have for 2017?

Besides our upcoming shows, we are


all busy writing new songs.

Thank you for taking time for this


interview any last words to the
Fans?

We would like to thank all of our fans


for their support. Thank you so much
for buying our album. Hope to see all
of you at a show. For updates, you can
catch us on Facebook.
THE NORSEMAN COMPANY
PAGE 38 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Hello Geir with The Norseman Company and welcome to Rocknation. You are a
drummer from the band Humbucker and now your new band is called The Norseman
Company. How did you come up with that name?
Thank you! I truly highly appreciate you having me here! Well..the name.. although the
album might be described as a solo album, (I have written all the songs, are
co-producing and organizing everything), I had no desire to have my own name on the
cover. Let’s be realistic, I am not Paul Stanley nor David Coverdale, so I thought it would be wiser and more
exiting for people to have a project name... Besides, it really is a company of people making this anyway...I am
not alone, so it felt more right.

You have some amazing artwork going on please tell us how you hooked up with the US artist Eric Ridgeway for
that.
Thank you! I will make sure to tell Eric that! I am very happy and proud of this cover! It is everything I wanted
and more! I was originally going to call the project The Lynchburg Company, simply because I like the sound of
that word and I am also a big fan of US western movies, so I thought it sounded good. I was looking online for a
cool rock and roll outlaw picture for the cover and after a month or so, I found a really cool one. The artist was
Eric Ridgeway, located in Detroit, USA. I found his contact info and sent him an email asking if I could use his
image. He was all cool about it and very nice to chat with. But why not make an original one? Good idea! After a
while, one thing led to another and the image turned into a viking. Now the word Lynchburg suddenly sounded
very misplaced and I decided to change it to The Norseman Company. Norseman is the old word for Norwegian or
Scandinavian and with the Viking on the cover, this made the package so much more right. I live in Norway, the majority of the musicians
is Norwegians/Scandinavians...It all felt right...

Please tell us about what musicians are involved in this band.


Sure. I am a very lucky guy... Some of Norway’s finest musicians will be on this album. I am very proud of that! We have all ready recorded
guitars with legendary Norwegian guitar hero, Peer Gynt on one track. We have also one of Norway’s finest piano players on that track
too. Daniel Roessing was chosen by Chuck Berry when he did his tour in 2007-08, and a better recognition as a piano player is hard to
get. He layed down some groovy Jon Lord’ish red hot rock and roll piano on it. That song is “Dirty Nelly” which will be a classic rock and
roll song in the Whitesnake/ Mott The Hoople style. I also have Mike Noberg from Sweden’s Blacksmith Legacy playing bass and singing
one song. Danish vocalist Martin Steene from Danish metal band Iron Fire is singing on two songs and I got my good friend, legendary
Canadian rock star, Brian Vollmer, singing one song. I can’t reveal all, it’s over twenty people involved on this album, and there might still
be some minor changes but I can’t remember last time I was this exited!

You have a huge lineup of producers and studios for this release please tell us about that.
Well, I always believed that one should do the best one can when making something others might buy. A homemade half way done album
is not something I will do. And never change a winning team they say, so I have my dream team from Humbucker’s second album ‘King
Of The World’ also doing this one. That means we are producing the album at Stargate Studios in Trondheim-Norway. My buddy Hallgeir
Rustan (Stage Dolls, Cher, Elton John) will produce it together with myself. It will be mixed and mastered in the US by legendary
producer Beau Hill ( Ratt, Warrant, Winger, Alice Cooper, Europe etc..etc..) and the CD and vinyl package will be designed in the UK by
Hugh Gilmour ( Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Humble Pie, Whitesnake etc..etc..). I want people to get value for their buck when purchasing
this album, and I truly believe that is secured...!

Humbucker your last band had some music placements in a movie, please tell us about that.
Sure. That is really cool. I have a publishing deal with acclaimed music supervisor Michael Davenport and his Expressive artists Company
in the US. He has placed ‘Dipstick Joe’, a song I wrote for Humbucker’s first album ‘R.O.C.K.S’ in a new US horror movie called ‘Happy
Hunting’. Go see it if you get a chance! In today’s business it is important to be able to stand on more than one leg, and I am looking
forward to see what Mr. Davenport might get out of the new songs as well when they’re done!

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
Without a doubt Kiss, Whitesnake, Helix, Poison, Aerosmith etc.. I am a big fan of the eighties and that’s the kind of music I write.

What plans do you have for 2017?


This year we will record as much of the album as we can. It will be out late 2018, but the plan release wise this year is to have a 3-track EP
out as soon as possible, probably this year but
very early next year at the latest. That will be
Dirty Nelly together with two more songs. I am
also just about done designing the new website
and t-shirts are being designed as well. A lot of
stuff are going on at the moment!

Thank you for taking time for this interview any


last words to the fans?
Thank you Sir! It’s an honor!
I hope the fans will embrace this album when
it’s out. I have had some wonderful years with
Humbucker in getting connected with a lot of
fans out there and hopefully that will continue.
I truly appreciate everyone who has followed my
work so far and hope that everyone will enjoy
The Norseman Company as well! Please visit
and like The Norseman Company on Facebook...
you will get all the progress info there.
Thank you each and every one of you out there!
Cheers from Norway everyone!
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 39

BOB DEE with

PETRO
Hello Bob Dee with Petro and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats to your band on the release of your album
“Pretty Things” on AMG/SONY Records. How does it feel to have a major label release and be a part of
Universal Records with the deal on AMG/SONY Records?
Hi Tom, Great to talk to you again Congrats on your awesome magazine!! Yes I am so excited!! As many
of you know I have been recording and releasing albums for awhile now and I have always been told “You
just need that one hit single Bob and you will have a major deal”. So the story goes I wrote this song and
sent it to Mark Berry at AMG/Universal Records, he has something like 36 Gold and Platinum records.. He
wrote back “this song is a hit single” an Anthem and signed me.. we then made an awesome video for it ..
The song was rockin UK radio for 3 months. it did so well Mark got me something like 10 licensing deals
including the tattoo reality show “Bondi Ink” and the video was licensed to 5,000 gym chains across the
USA so we toured and had some major airplay then AMG/SONY came along and released the full 12 song
album called ‘Pretty Things” available on All major outlets

Which track do you think got you the deal?


The song is called “Socially Awkward” It’s like Green Day meets Cheap Trick!! I recorded it with my awesome team Brian Bauers and Scott
Campbell on Drums ..The song always goes over live.. I had one promoter in Germany tell me his whole office staff loved the song so much
they couldn’t stop singing my song all day in the office

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
I always hear a “Cheap Trick “ reference and some say “Oasis” the cool thing about our music is that we drop tune all of our songs to a
“C “ 2 whole steps down so when we play live its real heavy with my pop vocal on the top end it seems to resonate well with all of our fans.

You have released many pro videos please tell us about the new one filmed in Germany.
Oh Yes I flew to Germany to work with director “Annie Bertram” she is from Zurich. Annie found an old broken down hotel in “The Black
Forest”, Germany. So we all flew from all parts of the world to the location in Baden Baden Germany. I had to take a two hour train ride from
Frankfurt to “Baden Baden” where the location was filmed. We filmed with a beautiful model named “Lamacra” from Germany and I must
mention an awesome makeup girl “Schnitt muskel”and “Patrick Crass” who helped with the video I played an old vampire who saves a young
girl and brings her back to life. The video is called “Dance with a Vampire”

Once I had a bad dream I lost my guitar on a flight, but this really happen to you what was the deal?
It’s funny you should say that Tom .. Here goes I have this guitar that was custom built for me by legend “DAWK” RIP Dawk did Manowar,
Richie Blackmore, Scorpions amps and guitars and I had Larry DiMarzio make a special rock pickup for the guitar.. the cool thing is I take the
neck off and put it and the body in my duffle bag and take it on tour. Well when I play in Japan I like to vacation in Maui, Hawaii .. I have a cool
bungalow there and it comes with a grill by the ocean.. I spend a week there then fly to Japan to play. So the guitar made it through many
flights and customs NYC- LAX- Honolulu-MAui- Tokyo- Osaka with no problem, but when I tried to fly back home I got to the Osaka, Japan
airport and the TSA says the neck of my guitar is too long it has to be gate checked!! What???? I went off I told them no way and raised my
voice a bit…. so in the mean time the Japanese police started to surround me I then thought.. I better shut up… so they detained me for like
a half hour and went through every piece of my clothing, they took my screwdrivers I had for my guitar and my Snark tuner. I learned to shut
up… I finally got my guitar back in one piece

Have you recently picked up any endorsements for the band?


Yes.. I met Trace Davis owner of “Voodoo Amps” at a club in Upstate, NY through my friend Rich Paolotto a rock manager in Upstate NY Trace
Davis amps are amazing the holy grail of amps I need no pedals and my amp just kicks ass his clients are Joe Perry, Aerosmith Billy Gibbons,
ZZ Top Richard Fortus, Guns and Roses and Johnny Depp. I also have a DR Strings endorsement through Rosa Daza she is awesome. Since
the band tunes down two whole steps we created a custom set for me which is now being sold in stores 13-56 ..if you see this set in stores it
came from me I also just picked up a “Zemaitis Guitar endorsement. I just received my guitar and will be playing it on tour in the UK along
with Namba Gear just came onboard and you all know about my famous “Pikcard’s” by Neil Rapaport Neil is awesome he shipped a whole
bunch to Japan for me.. I think everyone around the world has one of my pick cards!! Including the late director “Malik Bendjelloul who
directed ‘Searching For Sugarman” I met him when I played SXSW in Austin Texas.. He said he had my “Pikcard” in his wallet when he won
an Oscar for best film doc.

Where has the band has played concerts and other bands have you appeared with.
We did support for “Britny Fox” man they were awesome!! great band great guys!! We also look forward to hanging with a UK band named
“Erica” we were on tour with them last time we played our UK tour.. great band!!!

Please tell us about the UK tour you have coming up.


Yes.. we are excited to be asked back.. we rocked last time We are going back for another
UK tour in June playing from Newcastle to London and playing an outdoor festival too. I
have my Petro Band in Europe that I play with.. Awesome players.. on guitar: Ade Fisher, on
bass: Norm Appleby and AT Kinson on drums We will be rockin the “Pretty Things” tour.

What plans do you have for 2017?


So far its been amazing I was in Germany a few months ago going to tour the UK in June
and filming a new music video when I get back in July then tour playing an outdoor festival
in August then fall tour and back in the studio.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
Thank you Tom for taking the time to interview me its always a pleasure talking with you…
To all my fans around the world Thank You for all your love and support You all stuck by me
through all these years. All the fan mail I receive is heartwarming.. you will always by my
side.. I could not do this
without you!! Thank you!!
THE STEEL
PAGE 40 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Perris Records is proud to announce the CD release of Italy’s premier hard rock heavy metal band
“THE STEEL”. THE STEEL “The Evolution of Love” features eleven studio tracks recorded in true rock
& metal form. THE STEEL formerly known as WIZARD released 4 demos “We Can Do It” 1988, “Shiver
And Shake” 1990, “Carved The Rock” 2010 and “Straight To The Unknown” 2014 . WIZARD also had
tracks released on two compilations “Surgery Of Power” 1989 and “Rocka In Musica” in 2012.

Hello THE STEEL and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats to your band on the release of your “The Evolution of Love” album on
Perris Records. How long has the band has been together and how did you form the band?
First of all, we’d like to thank Rocknation Issue 24 for this interview. The band has existed since the ‘80s, it was formed by me, Tiziano
Favero (also known as Roy Zaniel), and Rino Musella; a friend introduced us when we were very young and we’ve immediately become
close friends and, with our first guitarist Santo Carrotta, we decided to form a Hard Rock band. We’ve changed several band members
through the years and now, since 4 years, Marco Perrone is our guitarist. We’re considered an important band in the Italian metal sector
for our long existence.

Please name some of the tracks and the story behind them.
“W3/79” is the first track of our album: the title stands for Wizard (our band’s previous name), 3 as the members of the band itself while 79
is a reference to the year the band was formed, 1979.“The Evolution of Love” is the first track we made with Marco, that’s why we chose it
as the album’s title. Later we also decided the album’s cover should have been inspired to the song itself.“Take Me Away” is a song we
composed in a few minutes; it was rather easy and spontaneous for us to write it. We think that, among the album’s tracks, “Take Me Away”
is the one that suits the most for being transmitted via radio. “Metaphysical Journey” is an instrumental track, we composed that because
we wanted a track which would sound similar to Rush’s music.
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 41

Your band has 3 members I hear some keyboards in your music. Please tell us about who
played the parts on your tracks. And will you have a keyboard player when your band
plays in concert?
Keyboards in our songs are played by a friend of ours, Luca Di Gennaro, Soul Secret’s keyboard
player. He was rather glad to play with us, but we don’t plan to use keyboards in live shows, so
we’ve tried to don’t add too much of that in the album. We’ve always been a trio, so in live shows
the tracks we play are very much alike how they’re recorded in the album.

Please tell us about your “Walking Dead” video. What is the story behind that video and
song?
Both the lyrics and video of “The Walking Dead” are inspired to the war in Ukraine. The reasons
we wrote about it is because it’s a war in the middle of Europe and I also have several friends
from both Ukraine and Russia. We recorded the video in an abandoned, crumbling school
because we wanted to recreate the setting of a building damaged by the war and we thought that
wearing army clothes would have been a good way to highlight so.

What other bands have you appeared with in concert?


We never really had concerts outside of our country, but we’ve played with many other important and historical Italian bands such as Vanadium and Strana
Officina; we also played with Sacrum, a famous Argentinean band.

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
We consider ourselves an Hard Rock band inspired by the ‘70s music, but obviously we try to stick with the current new sound as well; we’d say our band
sounds like Rush, Led Zeppellin and The Whinery Dogs.

What bands have the biggest influence for song writing for your music?
Certainly we’re inspired to the bands we’ve mentioned, but other bands and musicians who have a big influence on us are Kiss, Richie Kotzen and Glenn
Hughes.

What plans do you have for 2017?


We’re waiting for our album to come out to begin playing live concerts, we are and will be having radio interviews to show off our album and we’re already
working on our second official video for the track “Take Me Away”. At the moment we’re also writing new songs for a future project.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
We’d like to thank everyone who follows us, we hope you guys support us by buying our album: we’ve worked very hard and with pleasure to
produce it and we have to say we’re very happy of the results. We’d also really appreciate if you could follow us on our Facebook page “The Steel-Wizard”,
we’re always glad to see our fans’ support.
THE SPIDERS
PAGE 42 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Hello Nick with The Spiders and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats to


your release of your single “Election Day”. What inspired you to write that song?
Thanks Tom, “Election Day” was written about the 2016 Presidential Campaign and all the
rhetoric regarding Trump and Clinton. I really fed off all that energy and really took advantage
of this incredible moment in time and I really feel I captured it well.

You have a new single called “Another Mile” please tell us about that song and
recording it.
“Another Mile” is our newest single & video we just released and we are very excited about
this tune also. It really is about running, resiliency, and the drive in all of us to achieve our
goals.

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would
you mention?
I really feel we are totally unique, some have compared us to Poison & Green Day. I don’t
feel we really sound anything like them.

Where has the band has played concerts and other bands have you appeared with.
We really have been headlining shows on our own.

What plans do you have for 2017?


We plan to keep recording and get back to performing live in the fall. We really have been
playing shows non stop since September of 2016. We like to take a break in the summer.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
We really would like everyone to check out our website at www.thespidersband.com which has
all our info, additional music and videos. We encourage everyone to share our music and
videos for both “Election Day” and our new song “Another Mile”. We are really proud of both!
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 43

“Election Day is a stellar work of punk rock art and does exactly what PUNK is supposed to do: Speak for
the man!”--Allyson Porter, writer, MTS Management Group

Band: The Spiders


Location: New Jersey
Single: Election Day
Genre: Rock, Alt, Pop Punk
Sounds Like: Green Day, All Time
Low, Sum 41
Label: Tunecore
Members:
Nick DeStefano:
Lead Guitar, Vocals
Nestor Arcelay:
Drums, Vocals
John Henderson:
Bass The Spiders are proud to release their much anticipated single “Election Day” that
offers the rhetoric and angst so many feel about their choice, or lack of, in the
The upcoming
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Upcoming
Type to enterShows:
textThe THE SPIDERS ELECTION DAY VIDEO
Saturday Oct 8 The Grasshopper Too, Wayne NJ

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ydgKvj64_QA
Friday Sept 9 at Jiggs, Butler, NJ Friday Oct 28, Jiggs, Butler, NJ
Saturday Dec 10, The Grasshopper Too, Wayne NJ
The Spiders are led by Lead Guitarist and Vocalist, Nick DeStefano. Nick has performed all
Saturday Sept 17 at Bardis Pequannock, NJ

over North America, Phone:


from the Stone Pony in New Jersey to the Troubadour in Los Angeles. He
www.thespidersband.com . For press Inquiries: nickd1552@optonline.net.
973-879-5736 www.facebook.com/Nicholas.destefano.79
PAGE 44 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Hello Sammy with Red Reign and welcome to


Rocknation. Congrats to you going on tour with
TESLA later this summer. This must be a dream
come true for you and the band. Please tell us
some details about that.
The Tesla shows ARE a dream come true. You grow up watching these bands and seeing them live and now you are sharing the stage with
them....It is such a surreal feeling and we are so excited and ready to rock with Tesla in Ft Wayne, Cincinnati and Grand Rapids, Mich.

You are working with one of the most known publicist Chip Ruggieri (Rob Halford, Iron Maiden) of Chipster PR, how has that
opened the door for your band?
Signing on with Chip has changed the whole realm of this band. Chip is a true honest gentleman, that we are so privilege to work with.
He is the biggest part of why we are here opening for Quiet Riot and Tesla. He has put us in touch with all the right people along the way
and everyone has had a hand in the final product..... I would say we are the luckiest band out there right now with Chip on our team.

Your band just released your self titled EP which you worked with Grammy-nominated producer, David Ivory. Please tell us some
details about recording it.
WOW, the recording process was so much fun. When Chip hooked us up with David Ivory, it was another dream coming true. With all of
David’s credentials, you would think when we walked in the door it was..”Hey, guys...Its my way or no way at all”, but David was different.
He liked our material. and instead of changing what we were doing, he enhanced it and made the songs flow rhythmically and made them
ready for a more mainstream listening audience.

Please name some tracks and what they are about.


One of the EP’s standout tracks is the “Not That Way” (which will be performed at the upcoming shows), which the band’s McMichael
describes as “one of those songs that is about a love gone bad and then the girl realizes she made a mistake in our relationship and wants
to get back into the same relationship she poisoned. But the guy has gotten over her and moved on.” Other tracks include “Chains” (“About
the feelings of being held back and looking for that escape”), “Toxic” (“The feeling of hopelessness in a relationship”), “Red Reign” (“The
anger side of a relationship”), and “What is Love For” (“About you pouring yourself into a relationship, knowing it’s not going to go far”).

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
I am not sure if we “sounds: like another band, BUT we put alot of our influences in our music and I think you can hear those sounds in our
songs. Influences: Van Halen, Dokken, Queensryche, Aerosmith.....And other bands from that genre.

Where has the band has played concerts and other bands have you appeared with.
We have played a few shows here in our hometown (Richmond, Va). We played in Hopewell Va last Dec with Lita Ford. On June 23rd
we will be in Lynchburg Va, supporting Quiet Riot, and then 1st week in August its off with Tesla.

What plans do you have for 2017?


So whats next in 2017. Well we are still working on some additional shows after the
Tesla dates. Also, We will keep promoting the band, continue to look for shows AND
we have already started writing for the next album.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
Once again, Thank you for having me and helping to spread the word on Red Reign.
All I can tell fans is, if you enjoy Hard Rock and Roll, pick up the EP and then come
to a show, grab a beer and lets all talk after the show.

FACEBOOK: facebook.com/RedReignBand
WEBSITE: http://redreignband.com
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 45

Concert dates:
Supporting Quiet Riot: June 23, 2017 Lynchburg, VA
August 3rd Embassy Theatre in Ft Wayne, IN with TESLA
August 4th Taft Theater in Cincinnati, OH with TESLA
August 5th 20 Monroe Live in Grand Rapids, MI with TESLA

SELF-TITLED EP CD NOW AVAILABLE!!!


TRACK LISTING:
1. Not That Way 2. Chains 3. Toxic 4. Red Reign
5. What is Love For

CD REVIEW:
Fans of Tesla the Band and Quiet Riot
take note...there is an amazing new band
called Red Reign that will be opening up
for both bands later this summer.
Do your homework now and you’ll be
glad you did... - The Music Room

FACEBOOK: facebook.com/RedReignBand WEBSITE: http://redreignband.com


ABANDONED SOULS
PAGE 46 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Hello ABANDONED SOULS and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats to


your band on the release of your “Make It Last” album. How long has
the band has been together and how did you form the band?
Thank you. We formed this band in 2004 out of long time friendships and a
common love for hard hitting aggressive music that has melody. After many
months of writing and rehearsing and drinking, we realized that we had
something pretty substantial going. We released our first album in
December of 2005. The story continued from there.

Please name some of the 5 tracks from your new release and what
they are about.
Here they all are, take your pick.
Prove It- Is a statement on the fact that time doesn’t wait. Use that as
inspiration and go out and Prove whatever it is you have to prove in life.
Make it happen now because time itself wastes for you and me, so don’t
you waste time.

Make It Last- Is basically a reference to always trying to make the good


times in life last as long as you can. As much as possible, try to live ev-
ery minute like it could be your last. Revel in time spent with family and
friends, let go of the negative and embrace the positive. The bigger picture
is of the world as a whole needing to make some changes. We need to
make our time on this earth last and right now we aren’t doing such a great job of that. Time is fleeting, so…. Make It Last.

Best of Me- This is about being taken advantage of and taking a stand to not let it happen again. The idea is paradoxical, as in you can give the best of
yourself to someone and yet sometimes they still get the best of you, as in… take advantage. You got the Best of Me. You get the Best of Me.

Stand Out Front- All about being your own worst enemy. How sometimes you can be the only thing standing in your own way. It’s hard sometimes for a
person to change how they are, but it’s also necessary in some situations to Stand Out in Front of yourself to get out of your own way. To gain a different
perspective, theoretically looking at yourself. Not always possible for some.

So Through- This one is all about getting rid of negative people in your life. How sometimes certain people that are negative can bring that negativity
into your life. People that don’t make you stronger by having them in your life - lose the negativity and those people. “So through, don’t want you back in
my life.”

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
That’s always kind of hard to answer. Everyone’s perception is different. But, if you put Alter Bridge, Metallica, Kings X, Alice in Chains, Three Days
Grace and Black Sabbath into a blender, maybe something like that.

What bands have you appeared with in concert?


We have shared the stage with Kings X, Skid Row, Jake E Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel, Default, Thornley, My Darkest Days, and Lee Aaron, as well as
hundreds of other independent and unsigned bands.

What plans do you have for 2017?


We will be playing a bunch of shows in Canada to promote the new album. We also just release a new lyric video for “Make It Last” and are working on
an official video for the next, to be determined, single. Check out abandonedsouls.com for links and info. We are planning on a return to the studio later
in the year to work on new music for another EP. The theory is to release smaller collections of songs more frequently, instead of taking years to put out
a full-length album.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
Thank you again for doing this. To the fans: thank you so much for your support, it means everything
to us. To the possible new fans reading this, please check us out on Youtube and all the usual social
media sites where you find cool bands. Like, share, tweet, retweet, follow, join…whatever you can do
to help spread the word about Abandoned Souls - it is much appreciated. Keep the rockrocking!

Official Website: www.abandonedsouls.com


Facebook: www.facebook.com/abandonedsouls1
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/AbandonedSouls
Twitter: twitter.com/AbandonedSouls
CONFESS
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 47

Hello CONFESS and welcome to


Rocknation. Congrats to your band
on the release of your album
“Haunters”. How long has the band
has been together and how did you
form the band?
Thank you! Nice to finally get the album
out to the public. I (John Elliot) formed
the band back in early 2008. Back then
we just wanted to have fun and play
rock ‘n’ roll. We we’re like 17 at that
time, so this was just something to do
after school hours basically. After a few
years of playing in bars in Stockholm,
things started to happening for us and
before we knew it we started to get
offers from different labels and booking
agencies around the world.

What kind of reaction have you had from fans with your “Haunters” CD compared to your last release “Jail”?
I would say that the BIG difference on the reactions for these 2 albums is that, on ‘Jail’ people seemed to like it allot faster right after the first
spin. On ‘Haunters’ some people were very fast on putting the album down. But after a few spins they actually took their opinions back and
said the loved the album. I can see why. This album is a big difference to ‘Jail’. Is much more complex and it takes a bit more of the listener
to get the whole album

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
hmm..good question. I wouldn’t really say that we sound like another band precisely. But we are heavily influenced by heavy metal bands
from the 80s. But we all listen to allot of different types of music. Not just rock ‘n’ roll. Not saying we sound like them but these bands is
some of our influences when we started of and we still like them as much today. Guns ‘n’ roses, Wasp, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Firehouse,
Hardcore Superstar, Crazy Lixx, Kiss to name a few.

Please tell us about where the band has played concerts and other bands have you appeared with.
Where have we not played? Ha-ha No, but we’ve been all over Europe a few times and we’ve been to the States. I really want to go to
Japan and play there.

What plans do you have for 2017?


We’re planning on making a new music video and to book some shows
after the summer. And in the fall we will start working on a new album

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the
fans?
Thank you so much for buying our album and supporting us. Hopefully
we’ll see you on the road after the summer.
VITNE
PAGE 48 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Hello Joseph with VITNE and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats to your release of your
album “Jupiter” on June 20th. What are the fans going to see compared to your previous
releases?
Hello Rocknation! Thank you and thank you for having me. Compared to my previous albums,
I would say “Jupiter” is heavier, and has more substance/depth. This album isn’t about girls,
drinking and cruisin’ down the highway. It’s more thought-provoking and introspective. The songs
flow, it is melodic, heavy, atmospheric, and there is even a good bit more flute. Maybe that sounds
strange, but I love the feeling it adds to the music.

The first single is “Make Believe”, how did you pick that track?
This album has actually technically had a few “first singles” because I released “Masquerade” and
“Lion” in 2016, followed by “Make Believe” in early 2017. I was experimenting with my sound and
writing a bit during that time and didn’t want to put together an album until I felt it was time. I didn’t
even have plans to release an album at that point. The album version of “Masquerade” is a complete remix from the 2016 version and
there is also a music video for it. “Make Believe” though has recently really been catching some momentum on Spotify as well as other
services. It’s always so interesting to see which songs really connect with fans.

Please name some of the tracks and the story behind them.
The title track “Jupiter” is about feeling detached from the world, like you are watching the world go by through a window or a looking
glass. Sometimes you just feel like a bystander, and I wanted to capture that feeling in a song of my own. I know people can relate.
“Masquerade” also touches somewhat on this subject, but “Masquerade” is more about questioning the motives behind people and the
reality of everything around you. “Make Believe” is about recognizing your demons and taking a step to rise above them. “Under the
Moonlight” is a song about losing the most precious person in your life. “Say Goodbye” is about confronting everyone and everything that
is holding you back, saying goodbye and moving away from those that do nothing positive for you.

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
This is such a hard question for artists because we are so close to the songs! I will say though that if you like Winger, Gackt, Alice Cooper,
Billy Idol, Warrant, etc. then you may enjoy my stuff. That kind of vibe, the darker melodic stuff.

Where has the band has played concerts and other bands have you appeared with.
Currently I haven’t performed any concerts due to time constraints, but I’m hoping that will shift in the future.

You also act, please tell us about your appearances in Dear John - Hollywood Feature Film (2009) and Hotel Cæsar - 3 Episodes -
Norwegian TV series.
I’ve done a number of small things, but one of the most fun was when I was an extra in the 2009 movie Dear John during the filming in
Charleston, South Carolina. The beach/surfing scene was being filmed down the street from where I grew up, so it was really cool. If you
watch closely, during the bonfire scene, you can see something yellow go in front of
the camera. That’s me! I wore a yellow “Gölden Palace” t-shirt (my band from back
home in the US) intentionally every day of the shoot so I could potentially be seen
better. I’ve also been on the Norwegian TV Show “Hotel Cæsar” a few times for
both extra and speaking roles. A funny story about one of those shoots was when
I had to audition. In order to get the part, I had to meet with the producer. I was
working an overnight shift the night before and the meeting was in the middle of the
day, so after my shift I slept in my car for a few hours outside the film studio so I
wasn’t completely exhausted during the audition. All in all, it is a lot of fun being on
a movie or tv set, completely different from being in the recording studio.

What plans do you have for 2017?


Getting “Jupiter” out to the world, writing new music, and we will see!

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
Thank you for having me Rocknation! To everyone who enjoys my music, you
are amazing. I’d love to hear from you, so feel free to reach out and say hey, and
share share share the music to anyone you think might like it. Thank you for your
support and you ROCK!
MONKEYSOOP
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 49

Hello Jerry with Monkeysoop and welcome to


Rocknation. How long has the band been together and
how did you form the band.
Monkeysoop has been together about 14 years. After
playing with different bands around the US, I settled in San
Antonio and started working with a singer on a new
project. Then we recruited Erica on bass. Shortly afterward, Erica and I decided to go instrumental. We recorded a five-song demo and
pitched it to several record companies. It was picked up by Sonic Wave International and the rest is history.

On your EXPERIMETAL II CD you had some guest appearances by Terry Bozzio and Michael Angelo Batio please tell us
about that.
As a guitarist, I’ve always admired Michael Angelo’s amazing abilities and we were honored to have him on the CD, where he recorded a
killer solo on the song “Power Exalted”. We reached out to Terry Bozzio for his phenomenal drumming and his history of working with Frank
Zappa among many others. The song he drummed on, “Balance Factor,” was written in 15/16 time, a virtually unknown time signature. Terry
used his recording of our song as a drum recording lesson for Drum Channel and from his testimony on the video, we challenged him just a
bit. On our latest CD, “Where the Truth Lies,” we recruited Snowy Shaw on drums and Chris Poland on a guitar solo on our cover of Judas
Priest’s “Sinner.” Bill Lindsey of Impaler did the awesome vocals for our cover of Alice Cooper’s “I’ll Bite Your Face Off” for a tribute CD.
We’ve also got Bill Manspeaker of Green Jelly and Kevin Goocher of Omen doing vocals on some upcoming recordings.

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
It depends on which album you’re talking about – our sound changes with virtually every recording we put out there. We first started out as
a progressive instrumental rock band, where we toyed with odd time signatures and crazy rhythms, many different changes in each song.
After meeting Bill Manspeaker in 2010 and joining the Green Jelly Texas franchise band he formed, our music took a turn toward
vocal-driven, punk-laden comedy and parody. Our latest CDs have been moving toward more ‘progressive grunge’ with more serious song
themes dealing with the grittier, darker side of life.

Last year you toured Germany, Netherlands & Belgium. Please tell us about that.
It was amazing! We were on the Scumgrind Tour 2016 with Waco Jesus, Cliteater, A Threat to the Enemy, and Krotchripper. We were a
last-minute addition to the tour as one of the other bands had to drop out. I set it up and left our drummer a rambling voicemail ending with
“By the way, I just booked us on a European tour.” Two and a half weeks later, we flew into Germany with guitars and a snare drum and got
scooped up by the tour bus at the airport. The whole week was a blast and the last show of the tour was a huge festival with Suffocation and
Cattle Decapitation headlining. And we had a day off in Amsterdam – ‘nuff said about that. We’re making arrangements to go back in 2018.

What bands have you appeared with in concert in the USA?


We’ve opened for many bands over the years including Green Jelly, Loudness, Lillian Axe, The Bullet Boys, LA Guns, Bang Tango,
Phantom X, Grim Reaper, Joey Belladonna, Graham Bonnet, Lizzy Borden, Lordi, Sabaton, Grand Funk Railroad, Michael Schenker,
Dick Dale, Johnny Winter and many other awesome acts.

What plans do you have for 2017?


As we speak (June 11, 2017) we’re on our way to Chicago on the East/Midwest/Canada
leg of our “Where the Truth Lies” Summer Tour and in July we’ll be heading out west to
California, Nevada, and north Texas (with our first ever show at the Whisky A Go-Go on
July 15th) for another leg of the tour, including our second year in a row playing at the
Festum Carnis in Wilseyville, CA. We’ll also be opening for Omen, Raven, and Helstar for
some shows in August in Texas. In September we’ll be touring Texas with Bill Manspeaker
as Green Jelly. We’ve got another full-length CD written and almost ready to record and
we’re also working on a documentary that will start principle filming sometime in August.
We also just signed with a company in the UK to promote our music all over Europe and
to help arrange for a headlining tour in the UK In 2018.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
Thank you, Tom, and we hope to see you all on tour! We love seeing our fans and
meeting new ones – thank you for supporting what we do!
CASSIDY PARIS
PAGE 50 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

Hello Cassidy and welcome to Rocknation. Who would you say your influences are?
Hi. Thank you very much. I have grown up with music. Female singers like Anne Wilson, Pat
Benatar, Joan Jett, Lita Ford and Lzzy Hale are my idols. They have really shown that girls can
rock. Hopefully people will like what I do too. Other influences include Avril Lavigne, Taylor Swift
and The Veronicas. Singers like Paul Laine and Erik Gronwall from H.E.A.T are also absolutely
amazing.

Congrats on your release of your single “Talk About It” on August 1st. The song was
co-written by Paul Laine (Darkhorse, The Defiants). Please tell us some details about this
single.
Thank you. The idea started when Paul Laine was on tour in Australia. My dad plays lead
guitar in Paul’s solo band and after meeting him, he was cool enough to sing some of my
favourite songs with me and that’s how the idea came about to work on a song together. My
debut single is called ‘Talk About It’. I think it’s a really catchy rock song and lyrically focusses on
themes about growing up and relationships. Paul has really helped me with my songwriting and
I have learnt so much from him. We are going to continue to write more songs together, which is really cool!

Your Dad is in The Radio Sun a very well known band, how has that helped your start in music?
My dad has really assisted me in a number of ways. He has exposed me to lots of music since I was born – many of whom are
now my main influences and he has also taught me how to play guitar. He helped me get a fantastic singing teacher who is
also absolutely awesome – The Radio Sun singer Jason is my singing teacher. Together - my dad, Jason Old and Paul Laine
have all taught me the importance to enjoy my music. Last year I had the opportunity to watch The Radio Sun perform in the
USA at an all age rock festival during my vacation – I also got the opportunity to see and meet Chip Z’nuff from Enuff Z’nuff
which was really cool, another highlight.

You have some shows booked with The Radio Sun in exciting places, please tell us about that.
Yes. My dad’s band The Radio Sun are playing in Tokyo, Japan in November and I was asked to be the support act. I can’t
wait. I am also going to be playing lots of dates in my hometown Melbourne, Australia to launch my debut single.

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?
I’d probably say my style sits somewhere in between Avril Lavigne, Pink, Biters, and Danger Danger. I like the idea of being
ROCK.

What plans do you have for 2017?


I am filming a promotional clip for my debut single ‘Talk About It’ in two weeks and after that I’ll begin playing live shows
promoting the single in Melbourne at a bunch of schools. I’m going to do some more
writing for my debut album with Paul Laine and I’ll play in Tokyo, Japan in November.
I am fully committed to playing rock music for the long haul! Yes I am only 14 years old
but I do understand things are not going to happen overnight.

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?
I encourage fans of rock music to have a listen to my debut single ‘Talk About It’ and if
they like it, please support it by buying it on iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Play etc. I’d
love for people to join my social media pages as I’m very active on these platforms. I’ve
just started my own YouTube channel where I’ve recorded a few live fun cover songs of
Enuff Z’nuff’s ‘Baby Loves You’ and the Bad English
classic ‘When I see You Smile’.
www.facebook.com/cassidyparisofficial
Instagram :cassidyparisofficial
YouTube :cassidyparisofficial
Twitter :cassidyparisofficial

Thank you for your support,


Cassidy Paris
ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 51
PAGE 52 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24

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