Green is a husband, the father of three small children, a solo artist, and the current lead singer of both Circa Survive and Saosin. The busy artist took a few hushed moments from his action-packed life to reflect on music, life, and love as he knows it, during a drive to Avalon, NJ while his wife Meredith slept peacefully beside him.
George Thorogood and The Destroyers have been rockin’ and rollin’ for 43 years running. With their unmistakable blues-rock sound, irreverent high-energy stage act, and consistent nonstop tour schedule, The Destroyers have amassed a tremendous following of die-hard fans who flock year after year to sold-out venues to watch the band boogie down over and over again.
This September the band—George Thorogood (vocals), Jeff Simon (drums), Bill Blough (bass guitar), Jim Suhler (rhythm guitar) and Buddy Leach (saxophone)—kick off the second leg of their Badder Than Ever Tour. During a very short break in the band’s 32-city U.S. and Canada tour I caught up with Jeff Simon to discuss his favorite on stage moments, his memories of growing up with the man he calls GT, and his experience “keeping time” for The Destroyers.
Dark Star Orchestra has been treating fans to recreations of complete, originally highly improvised Grateful Dead shows, song by song in the same order in which they were first performed for the last two decades. In their 19 years the band has performed more than 2,600 shows, which is 300 more than the Grateful Dead did in their 30-year run.
I spoke with Jeff Mattson, lead guitarist/vocalist of the preeminent Dead tribute act, Dark Star Orchestra, ahead of their upcoming New Jersey show to discuss his connection to the music, his experiences playing alongside his musical heroes and what continues to inspire him night after night, year after year to pay homage to the legendary Grateful Dead.
Kansas’ latest album, The Prelude Implicit, treats fans to 10 new tracks and two exciting bonus songs. The album, coproduced by the band’s new member, Zac Rizvi, alongside two of the original members, Phil Ehart and Rich Williams, brilliantly celebrates the vocal talents of Ronnie Platt and the musical prowess of David Ragsdale (violin), David Manion (keyboards), Phil Ehart (drums), Billy Greer (bass guitar), and both Rich Williams and Zac Rizvi on guitar.
The band boasts an extensive catalog of 20 albums, eight of which have gone gold, three have achieved sextuple-platinum and one has reached platinum status. After a 16-year recording hiatus, the legendary band is back and better than ever, with fans proclaiming The Prelude Implicit to be the band’s hottest album in decades.
Protest The Hero released their newest EP, Pacific Myth, to fans via the subscription-based Bandcamp service this November. The Canadian progressive metal band composed of Rody Walker (lead vocals), Luke Hoskin (lead guitar, piano), Tim Miller (rhythm, guitar, piano), Mike Ieradi (drums), and Cam McLellan (bass guitar) is set to finish the year back on their home turf in Canada with an exciting end of year tour before kicking off 2017 on the August Burns Red tour. Protest The Hero frontman Rody Walker talked to me about the unorthodox releases of the band’s last two albums as well as their attempt to change the surprisingly stale image of progressive metal. We also discussed why despite the ease and popularity of digital downloads, vinyl still reins king and wax is not only back, but getting bigger every day.