Fastest Land Animal (FLA) is an energetic punk rock band consisting of native New Yorkers, John Cusimano, aka Screamin’ Jack Novak (vocals), Jonny Blaze, aka Alfonse Castillo (guitars and bass) and Andrew Meskin, aka Shark Samuels (drums). Formed during the worldwide shutdown, FLA took recording into their own hands, writing and laying down tracks from their respective homes before releasing their self-titled debut in 2021. Their fresh approach to punk rock and innovative music videos have gained them a strong social media following as well as multiple videos with over one million views and touring slots with bands such as Tesla. The band just released their sophomore album, East Coast, West Coast, In Between.

Nancy Travis talks about her new TV series on Hallmark Channel, RIDE!

Nancy Travis (Last Man Standing, The Kominsky Method), Tiera Skovbye (Riverdale, Nurses), Beau Mirchoff (Good Trouble, Hidden Gems), Sara Garcia (The Flash, Reign), Jake Foy (Designated Survivor, A Little Daytime Drama) and Tyler Jacob Moore (Barry, Shameless) star in the new, multigenerational family ensemble following the lives of the McMurrays, part of a rodeo dynasty going back a generation, as they struggle to keep their beloved ranch afloat. After a tragic loss, each character embarks on an empowering journey of transformation and self-discovery while also uncovering a twisted web of secrets, threatening to tear the family and their small Colorado town apart at the seams.

The first of the ten-episode season premieres on Hallmark Channel on Sunday, March 26th and can be watched on demand the next day on all platforms where Hallmark is available.

Lilah Fitzgerald talks about her role of Ghoulia in “Monster High: The Movie”, its upcoming sequel on Paramount+, her new TV series “Lucky Hank” with Bob Odenkirk and her new debut novel, “Stars & Swashbucklers”!

MONSTER HIGH : THE MOVIE, and based on the popular fashion toy line, was such a staggering success on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon it’s spawned a sequel. The Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada native reprises her role as Ghoulia in the upcoming film.  In addition to resurrecting ‘Ghoulia’ in 2023 and her role in “LUCKY HANK”, starring “BETTER CALL SAUL” fave Bob Odenkirk, which premieres this month on AMC, Lilah is also known for her role in The CW’s “HELLCATS”, her Leo Award winning performance in “MY NEW BEST FRIEND”, “SEVENTH SON” opposite Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore, “EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE” co-starring alongside Rachel McAdams and James Franco, and 2021’s “HONEY GIRLS” for Sony Pictures.  ‘Stars & Swashbucklers’ is Lilah’s debut novel, and the first installment in ‘The Last Montmorency Saga’. The April 4 release goes like this : Far in the future, earth has split apart into thousands of islands dangling between the stars. Privateers search for relics, artifacts, and manuscripts that were lost when the earth split, ships sail the stars like they once sailed oceans, and banished Olde Beings lurk in the Mysts between the islands.  Welcome to the broken world.  Stuck in steerage on the maiden voyage of the luxury airship the Halthow, sixteen-year-old Anya Marcox is determined to make her brother happy by accepting the fate their dead father used to recite to her like a prayer: average lives for average girls.But when an encounter with a dashing stranger lands Anya in the middle of a cutthroat race to find a relic that could change the fate of the islands, average is no longer an option.  Compelled by the whispering of the stars that have always promised her something more, Anya finds herself secretly working as a privateer—and falling for her partner in crime. But her treasure hunt through the stars soon turns deadly: the nightmares are getting worse . . . and Anya is beginning to wonder if they’re more than just dreams.

Sadie Laflamme-Snow plays the role of Alice Dhawan in Hallmark Channel’s The Way Home opposite Andie MacDowell and Chyler Leigh. The new hit show, which was already greenlit for a second season. Media Mikes had a chance to chat about the first season, plans for season 2 and even Sadie’s upcoming projects including Shudder’s “Slasher: Ripper” & Netflix’s “Unicorn Academy”.

The Way Home tells the story of three generations of women – Kat Landry (Chyler Leigh), her teen Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) and Kat’s mother Del (Andie MacDowell) – who are all strong, willful and independent. More than 20 years prior, life-changing events prompted Kat to move away from her small, Canadian farm town and she remains estranged from Del to this day. At a crossroads in her life, Kat moves back with Alice to her family’s farm though the reunion isn’t what Kat envisioned. When Alice and Kat unwittingly discover the ability to travel between the past and present, mother and daughter are determined to unearth the truth around the earlier tragedies as they try to change the course of events. Kat’s childhood friend Elliot (Evan Williams) is there for them in both eras as they navigate their journeys across time, helping the three women find their way back to each other.

Bo Bice is one of America’s most popular modern day southern rock singers. Bo’s epic run on American Idol as runner-up to Carrie Underwood in 2005 is still one of the most watched seasons in the shows history. Bo currently is playing the lead role in “Rock of Ages” at the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden, FL. The show opened on January 25. 2023 and recently got extended to March 12, 2023. Be sure to catch a performance if you can.

Click here to purchase tickets: https://www.gardentheatre.org/play/rock-of-ages/

Bo has received many awards over his 25 year career. As a Native of Alabama being inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and having Governor Bob Riley declare May, 24th Bo Bice day were among the greatest honors of his career. He has a string of 3 Gold Albums from his contribution to the Idols 2005 compilation CD, his single “Vehicle” and for his Debut CD “The Real Thing” recorded with Clive Davis/RCA Records. Bo has recorded and performed with such greats as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Phish, Marshall Tucker just to name a few. He has recorded a duet with Carlos Santana “Brown Skin Girl” 2005.

Bronson Arroyo pitched 17 seasons in the major leagues playing for teams such as the Cincinnati Reds, Boston Redsox, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Arizona Diamondbacks. When he wasn’t winning a World Series in 2004 or being elected to the Cincinnati Hall of Fame he would often be found with a guitar in his. Arroyo released an album of cover songs titled “Covering the Bases” in 2005 however his latest offering with his new band the ’04 is a 10-song album consisting entirely of original material. Media Mikes had the chance to speak with Bronson recently about the album’s creation, his transition from baseball to music and the encouraging words he received from Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder.

For more info on Bronson Arroyo and the 04’s visit www.instagram.com/bronsonarroyoandthe04

Seminal punk guitarist Ivan Julian was an essential part of the 1970’s New York city punk scene as a founding member of the band Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Know for his unique rhythm structures and a skewed guitar lines Julian’s unique style made him and his bandmates stand-out amongst other bands during the onset of NYC punk. Julian’s latest solo offering “Swing Your Lanterns” is set for a mid-February release via Pravda Records and Media Mikes had the chance to speak with Ivan about the work that went into the album, his fondness for analog recording and his time in the NYC music scene.

For more information on Ivan Julian, you can visit his official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ivan.julian.77

Los Angeles alt-rockers Liily helped ring in 2023 as part of Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party, hosted by multi-platinum recording artist Miley Cyrus and legendary county singer Dolly Parton the band performed their latest single “Applause” along with a raucous rendition of the Beastie Boys song “Sabotage”. Media Mikes had the chance to speak with singer Dylan Nash and drummer Maxx Morando about the group’s formation, their songwriting process and what it was like being a part of Miley Cyrus’s New Year’s party.

William Mark McCullough and Alexis Nelson discussing what it was like shooting the movie A SAVANNAH HAUNTING in a real haunted house! A SAVANNAH HAUNTING delivers a dread-filled supernatural drama about a mother grappling with her guilt stemming from the tragic drowning of her youngest daughter. When the family moves to Savannah to distance themselves from the tragedy, the mother slowly grows to believe she is being haunted by her dead daughter.

If you are curious at all about this film, check out a quote from their website below, which should seal the deal: “With the sexy undertones of AMERICAN HORROR STORY; the creeping dread of THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE and the slow descent into madness of THE SHINING, A SAVANNAH HAUNTING will resonate with audiences who enjoy a thoughtful supernatural thriller.”

Visit A SAVANNAH HAUNTING Official Website to find out how to watch the film and support indie horror: https://www.asavannahhaunting.com/

Rent / Purchase the A SAVANNAH HAUNTING ON iTunes! https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/a-s…

MediaMikes had a chance to chat with writer/director Damien Leone and star David Howard Thornton of the new movie “Terrifier 2”, which will be in theaters on October 6, 2022 from Cinedigm in partnership with Iconic Events.

From Writer/Director Damien Leone (All Hallows’ Eve, Terrifier), the highly anticipated, ultra-gory slasher sequel Terrifier 2welcomes back David Howard Thornton as the demonic killer, Art the Clown, and introduces Lauren LaVera as Sienna, who is bound to become an instant fan favorite as the next Final Girl.  Also returning is Samantha Scaffidi who reprises her role as Victoria Heyes, with horror icon Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp) and professional wrestler Chris Jericho also making appearances. 

SYNOPSIS: After being resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to the timid town of Miles County where he targets a teenage girl and her younger brother on Halloween night.

John Petrucci is the guitarist for the Grammy Award winning Progressive-Metal band Dream Theater. In support of his most recent solo album “Terminal Velocity” Petrucci has announced a multi date tour which will feature bassist Dave Larue and former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy. Media Mikes had the chance to speak with Mike recently about the album, reuniting with his former drummer and what we can expect from the upcoming tour which kicks off October 5th.

Adam Lawton: What can you tell us about your most recent solo album “Terminal Velocity”

John Petrucci: I did my first solo album “Suspended Animation” back in 2005. That album came about after performing on the “G3” with Joe Satriani and having to write songs to perform on that tour. Those songs ended up becoming the first album. Being so busy with Dream Theater I never really put much emphasis on doing a follow up record despite getting asked quite often about it. As years went by, I just never seemed to have the time but when the pandemic hit and all touring stopped, I knew there was going to be some time. I had been stock piling ideas and riffs since my last record, and I knew if I didn’t do this now it was probably never going to happen. I put all the material I had together and recruited Dave Larue and Mike Portnoy to play on. It was a lot of work, but I think it turned out really cool.

AL: What was it like going back and revisiting this material that you had been collecting for so long?

JP: A lot of these ideas were not full songs. When I am playing guitar and something hits me, I will just hit record. The quickest way is usually through my iPhone. I am pretty organized, and I keep everything in a folder, so I had the seeds of songs to start with. From there I was able to go back through my collection and pick out different things that I thought would work. I started with idea number one and just began working from there re-learning what I had while also adding to it.

AL: What led to you asking Mike Portnoy to play on the album?

JP: I like to keep my solo stuff separate from what I do with Dream Theater. Even though I had played live with both Mike Portnoy and Mike Mangini on “G3” outside of Dream Theater I really wanted to keep things with the solo album totally separate from the band. I wanted the album to be just about guitar and given the fact that Mike Portnoy is no longer in Dream Theater this followed the rule I set for myself. Mike’s a very busy guy and because of the Pandemic he also had some free time so when I asked him if he would be interested, he said yes.

AL: Did you have what you wanted laid out for both Mike and Dave or were they able to bring in their own ideas?

JP: While I was writing and recording the guitars my engineer James Meslin would program drums. Either he or I would then play the bass so even before Dave and Mike were involved the songs existed as completed pieces. We could have released the album just like that, but it is so much better having these guy play on there. When they came in they basically just had to learn compositions. At one point Mike asked me if I wanted things exactly as they were, and I told him these were basically just a guide and that he could do what he felt would make the song work. With Dave it was the same way. The two of these guys really brought the album to life and I was very happy with the end result. Even though we recorded the parts separately I think the album has a live energy and feel to it.

AL: Being very much a “tone” guy when it comes to guitar, how did you approach that aspect of the record?

JP: Dream Theater recently built a new facility to accommodate all of the bands needs. This included a studio space. My solo album was the first album that was recorded there. It was a little bit new however the guitar recording approach was very similar to how I do it with Dream Theater. I am a purest and have been playing my signature Ernie Ball Music Man guitars for 20 years now. I plug that into my signature Mesa Boogie head and then let the engineer mic up my 4×12 cabinet and we are off to the races. After we finished the solo record we went and did “Liquid Tension Experiment 3” in the same studio as well as Dream Theater’s “A View From the Top of the World” which we won a Grammy for! Having recorded guitar for those three very different projects the guitar stayed consistent from one thing to the next. We do experiment with different microphones and such but its basically me plugged straight into my amp. I like to keep things as pure as I can and capture that sound as it is.

AL: When did the idea to tour behind the release present

JP: That was always something I wanted to do. I had done a lot of “G3” tours but never an actual solo tour. Once I put the record out everyone started asking if I was going to tour behind it. When things started to open back up my priority was Dream Theater, so we got back into our cycle so once again I was left with no opportunity to tour solo despite wanting to. I generally know five or six months out what my schedule is going to look like and I saw that there was going to be a small window in the fall that I was going to have free. I asked my booking agent if we could get something scheduled and he was on it.

AL: Were Mike and Dave onboard with touring right away?

JP: Dave has been touring with me since 2001. He has done all the “G3” tours and of course both my solo albums. We had this running joke about if we were ever going to do an actual solo tour. Prior to that I think the joke was if I was ever going to do a second solo album. (Laughs) Dave said he would be there when the time came and he we are. With Mike we hadn’t played together live since he left Dream Theater twelve years ago. It was in my mind right away to ask him and when I did ask him, he said Yes.

AL: You are bringing out the reunited Meanstreak with you on the run. Can you tell us how that came together?

JP: The history there is the Dream Theater guys met the ladies from Meanstreak many years ago. My wife and I have been married 29 years. Both my wife and Mike Portnoy’s wife played guitar in Meanstreak while John Myung’s wife Lisa played bass. We all kind of got married and had families around the same time. We have been this big family for quite some time. Meanstreak’s disbanded and haven’t played for some time so when I started thinking of doing the solo tour, I mentioned to my wife about the ladies getting back together and opening for me. I am very excited for this. In all the years my wife and I have been together we have never toured together. We have played together a few times but never anything like this. This tour is going to be fun for fans on a few different levels as not only will they get to see Mike and I play together again but a lot of people will be getting to see Meanstreak for the first time as well.

AL: Any other projects or releases you might want to mention?

JP: There have been a lot of big things that happened for me personally over this last year. I have a new line Ernie Ball Majesty and JP15 guitars that came out in June. I released a Neural DSP plug-in that was a lot of fun as well. We just released out first video from the record for the song “Temple of Circadia” it’s an animated “Wayne’s World” meets “Indiana Jones” type story. (Laughs) Dream Theater will be touring next year and will be releasing more info on that later on but the biggest thing right now is this upcoming solo tour which kicks off October 5th in Providence, RI.

For more information on John Petrucci and all his projects visit www.johnpetrucci.com

“Worldwide icon of melodic rock Stan Bush is best known for his song “The Touch,” made famous by Transformers: The Movie (1986). An anthem for Transformers fans around the world, “The Touch” was remixed in 2013 by High Moon Studios for their hit video game Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. It has also been featured on ABC’s The Goldbergs, NBC’s Chuck, FOX’s American Dad, in RBN’s Guitar Hero, Deep Silver’s Saints Row IV and in the motion picture Boogie Nights. In 2014, Stan was inducted into the Transformers Hall of Fame.”

Visit stanbush.com to check out great merch and autographs! Also if you are located in the Florida area, Stan will be attending Hero Convention in Fort Myers during the weekend of November 18-20!

Tia Carrere played Cassandra Wong in the films Wayne’s World and Wayne’s World 2; Juno Skinner in True Lies; Nani Pelekai in the Lilo & Stitch films and TV series; In addition to acting, Carrere has won two Grammy Awards for her music. Her new film Easter Sunday with Jo Koy comes out August 5, 2022 and is a ton of fun, check out our interview!

Robby J. is the Co-Lead vocalist for the band “Sicksense”. The band recently released their debut EP titled “Kings Today” which is a fresh and blazing mix of rock and metal stylings which harkens back to the sounds of the late 90’s Nu Metal movement. Media Mikes had the chance to speak with Robby about the formation of the band, what its like to work with your significant other and the bands ominous bear mascot.

Adam Lawton: Can you give us some background on the formation of Sicksense?

Robby J.: The band first started with our guitarist and drummer back in 2017. They were in another band at the time that had recently parted ways with their singer. They were holding auditions and a former guitar player of mine suggested to me about auditioning. I ended up contacting them and they sent me three tracks which would subsequently become Sicksense songs. While I was working on those, I was asked what I thought about having a second vocalist. I was completely fine with that, but I did say that I would like creative control of the lyrical direction and storytelling. They agreed and I knew I had the right person in mind for the job. It ended up being my wife Vickie and the rest is history. Shortly after that decision was made, we started working on more songs and once we had those all down, we recruited our bassist Sam, and the lineup was complete.

AL: How do you and Vicky balance your band/home relationships?

RJ: Not to get cheesy with it but it’s all about being entirely supportive of one another. Being in a relationship of this nature you must be willing to work with each other. Over the last few years, we have gotten to the point where we have really built each other up. We are fortune in that we both work from home and behind the scenes I do a lot of work on Vicky’s social media for her own stuff as well as for her other band The Agonist. It’s very cool and easy to work with your significant other in this capacity especially if you are so supportive. We are at the point where even while we are working on other projects, we can at the same time bounce ideas for Sicksense off one another. It’s great having each other right there as a lot of times in bands you must schedule a time and place to meet which takes time. In our situation we are right there and can instantly start working on something the moment an idea hits. As long as there is balance and no egos involved, I think something like this can be a beautiful thing.

AL: Were some of those early songs that band first worked on what we are hearing on the new EP?

RJ: Two of those three demos that we first worked on in 2017 are on the “Kings Today” EP. When the pandemic happened, we got together and wrote and recorded a full lengths album worth of material. We then decided to split that in to two separate EP releases. The song “Make Believe” is one of those first songs and one that I did with Vicky in mind. The song “Soul Snatcher” was the other song from the 2017 demos we included. We have one other song that was from those demo sessions that will be on the following EP.

AL: When you are writing are you doing so with Vicky in mind or do you adjust what you had already written after the fact?

RJ: I try to base my work around what is going on with the instrumentation. I will either follow along with what the instrument is playing, or I will try to come up with something different to make things less monotonous. I tend to write my parts first. What sometimes will happen is I write a specific piece with me in mind but then Vicky will take it. I wrote a lot of the music for these EP’s with myself in mind but if I ever got stumped on something, I would let Vicky take control. That goes back to our understanding of each other and her knowing where I am trying to go with a song while at the same time adding her own twist to it. We have some songs coming out in the future that were entirely written by Vicky. For the “Kings Today” release I feel the material is very Robby heavy.

AL: Can you tell us about the decision to release these songs as two separate EP’s rather than one full-length album?

RJ: That was an easy decision actually and It really came down to Vicky and I living in Chicago
and it was during the early stages of the pandemic that we finished recording. It was becoming difficult to travel back and forth to Canada, so we decided to wait until we travel a little easier. We started to get a little tired of waiting and eventually bit the bullet and made the trip to Canada where we ended up having to quarantine for almost a month. After all of that and being a new band, we just wanted to get our music out for people to listen to. We decided it would easier to get things going if we split the ten songs in to the two separate five song EP’s along with three music videos for each. This gave us a lot of content to put out which helped our exposure.

AL: You also have a new video for the song “Forgotten Days”. Can you tell us about that?

RJ: The idea for this video was something that had been suggested at the last minute by our PR team to help support the EP release. Vicky and I reside in Chicago, IL while the rest of the band members are spread out in Eastern Canada, so it was a little challenging to come up with a concept so quickly and having to work remotely. We worked with the director who did our previous videos, and he had a concept based around the song and shot everything remotely with each member which ended up working out really well.

AL: Some of your other videos as well as a few social media posts feature a yellow bear. What is the story behind this guy?

RJ: (Laughs) That guy has become a little bit of a cult figure for us. I guess its our version of Iron Maiden’s “Eddie”. He has sort of become our mascot. The idea for him originated when we were shooting the food fight video for “Kings Today”. We wanted to have an even number of people at the table we were sitting at, so we created this character who we now call “Deli the Bear”. It ended up being played by our friend who has the same nickname just spelled differently. The idea behind him in the music video is that he has multiple meanings for us. We encourage our listeners and watcher to come up with their own interpretation of him. For me personally he represents that elephant in the room or “bear” in this case. He is this problem that no one wants to talk about or acknowledge that its there. He can also be an interpretation of social media in that there are people arguing amongst themselves and there could be these strangers/outsiders you are not aware of that are looking in. Deli is/can be anything we want him to be. We have adopted him as our mascot, and you will probably be seeing more of him in the future.

AL: The genre or term “Nu-Metal” is a moniker that seems to be closely associated with Sicksense. What are your feelings on this?

RJ: I think this goes back to a couple of the founding members previous band which was shamelessly Nu-Metal. I loved that about them! I feel like its sort of a taboo thing to be proud of in the music scene, but I love/loved a lot of Nu-Metal bands. This is what we sound like and we are just running with it. Being branded as “Nu-Metal” is fine with me.

AL: I know the band just finished up a run of live shows. What do you have planned next?

RJ: We have some more content based around the “Kings Today” EP that we want to still get out but just as we were releasing this EP, we were finishing up a new video for a song that will appear on our next release. We hope to have that out in early 2023 with the EP release shortly following that. The rest of this year will be just wrapping up things such as graphics and what not related to our next release. We are planning to release a vinyl version of the 2023 EP which will be on one side of the record with the “Kings Today” EP being on the other. That might be out a little later than the EP, but I think that’s going to be a cool thing for fans to be able to get. We have also already started working on what we want to release after the 2023 EP so will be working on that through out the summer as well.

For more information on Sicksense you can visit their official website at www.soundescapeagency.com/sicksense