Guitarist Gina Gleason joined the heavy metal band Baroness in 2017 and since that time has performed all over the world with the group which hails originally from Savannah, GA. The band is set to release their 6th studio album in September and Media Mikes had the chance to speak with Gina recently about the albums creation, it’s title and the bands upcoming fall tour.
Founded by Ollie Rosenblatt in 2011, Senbla is a London-based concert promoting and production company that operates both nationally and internationally. Ollie has worked on projects like the ‘films in concert’ shows, like Harry Potter and Star Wars film with live orchestra franchises as well as Beauty and The Beast, La La Land, Love Actually, A Muppet Christmas Carol, The Godfather. MediaMikes had a chance to chat with Ollie about the film in concert of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Live and it’s upcoming world tour!
Metalocalypse creator Brendon Small (despite some technical connection issues) chats with us about the new Dethalbum IV, the new movie Army of the Doomstar and Dethklok’s upcoming tour!
Jason Michael Paul is a concert producer, promoter, and entrepreneur. His production company, JMP Entertainment, produced Dear Friends – Music from FINAL FANTASY, PLAY! A Video Game Symphony, and Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses. His latest video game music concert is called “Heroes: A Video Game Symphony” and it kicks off this August!
Robin Taylor Zander is the son of Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Robin Zander. Not only do the two share a familial bond but they are also bandmates as RTZ has been performing in a variety of roles with legendary rock group Cheap Trick since 2014. When he is not playing guitar, bass or drums with the Rockford, Illinois natives RTZ is writing and recording his own material. “The Distance” showcases not only RTZ’s talents as a solo artist (he wrote and performed very part of the album himself) but helps sets the foundation for the multi-instrumentalist to step out of the shadows of his famous father while forging his own path into the rock history books.
For more info on Robin Taylor Zander and to pickup a copy of “The Distance” you can visit his official website here
Roddy Bogawa is known for his work with Storm Thorgerson on, Taken Storm: The Art of Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis, back in 2011. This new project, Have You Got it Yet?: The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd, with Storm was shot before his death in 2013 and they Roddy finished it. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Roddy and discuss his love for Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett and his stories about Storm Thorgerson.
Jordy Leenaerts, better known by the stage name Timecop1983, is a Dutch electronic musician from Eindhoven, producing music in the synthwave genre. He has released albums like “Faded Touch”, “Night Drive” and his most recent “Multiverse”.
Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Timecop1983 about his upcoming US tour and his new song “Love Game”, which is also the title song for his 2023 tour.
Andrew Scott Bell is the composer of the new film “Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey”, which follows Pooh and Piglet, who have now become feral and bloodthirsty murderers, as they terrorise a group of young university women and an adult Christopher Robin when he returns to the Hundred Acre Wood many years later after leaving for college. He also also co-composed the 2019 film “Deathcember”, which is a collection of 24 films that take a look at the dark side of the festive season.
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.
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.
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!
