Who doesn’t love the John Bush era releases from Anthrax? What a killer string of releases, Sound of White Noise, Stomp 442, Volume 8 and We’ve Come For You All. From 1992 to 2005 Anthrax was on a serious hot streak with John Bush on vocals. John has just announced a series of solo dates during which he’ll be performing material from this era of his career. So far it’s only three dates but we’re hoping to see it expand. That’s the big topic this week. Essentially a discussion of how damn good those albums were. Plus a few bonus topics as well And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Yep, I know we are a bit late to the game for this episode but with a person of such importance we really felt the need to say something about Ozzy. So this week like so many of our fellow podcasters, we remember a true titan of metal John “Ozzy” Osbourne. We never got to talk to the guy but we’ve had so many of the people who played with him or worked with him on the show to have a pretty clear picture of the man. And from that we can say that the rumors were true, he was through it all a down to earth guy who loved his fans. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

The recent “is he in or out?” Zak Starkey shit show circus made us think about the whole landscape of rock and metal PR missteps. So this week we go down memory lane on some classics including Lars versus Napster, the DLR MTV award debacle, one guitar Priest and a few more. We also do a bit of a chat on the current state of Pantera. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

On June 13th Metallica released their latest ultra mega box set for 1996’s “Load”. So we’re taking this week to talk through the some of their past sets, this set, the tour, and the Load era in general. While we are in box set mode we also touch on the just announced Night Demon box and the Deep Purple epic “Made in Japan” box. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Can you believe it, the rare two weeks in a row with a new episode. Don't get used to it! This week we get back to what we were supposed to talk about last week before I hijacked the discussion, that the Back To The Beginning concert. The advertised latest “final” Sabbath performance. I think, along with lots of other fans we are all curious on how this one is going to go down so this week we toss around the proverbial ball on it. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Honestly can’t believe this topic hasn’t come up before but I guess they have finally hit a new level with the solid gold Strutter 5” for 50 grand. So this week we ended up digging into some other current ridiculous KISS merch pricing. We also touch briefly on Megadeth leaving Universal and signing with new Frontiers imprint BLKIIBLK and from there we go down a bit of a Marty Friedman rabbit hole. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

I hear ya, WTF does that episode title mean. Well I couldn’t come up with anything clever so I’m just calling out the two main topics for discussion this week. First we go through this years M3 lineup. Definitely some surprises on the bill including a Pearcy/DeMartini team up. After that we talk about box sets. Fellow podcaster HairMetalGuru had compared the latest Crue box to the Ratt Atlantic years box and I was in total agreement with him in how lacking the Crue box was. Figured I would get Richie’s take on it too and from there we went way down the box set rabbit hole. Good one, bad ones and ones we wish would come out. And yes we forgot a big one, AC/DC Back in Black in a box set. That might be epic. Thought of it about 15 minutes after Richie left the studio. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Well 2026 is starting off with a low point as we lost John Sykes on the 20th of January. John is probably best known for Whitesnake and Blue Murder but the guy did so much more. So we spent a bit of time on that this week as well as talking about what’s in store for the post Nicko Iron Maiden. We kick things off this week with a heads up on collaborator Brain Heaton’s latest book “For The Sake of Supposing" the biography of past FoM guest Jason Slater. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Well damn, we actually hit our 600th episode. We’ve had some pretty cool 100th episodes in the past like our double header on Master of Puppets back on episode 300 and 301 but this week it’s a bit of low key discussion, no special guests just your humble hosts as we talk up the latest from Deep Purple, The Dead Daisies, Stryper, and the return of Portnoy to Dream Theater. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Yep we’re a little late to the party but this week we look back on past Focus on Metal guest Jack Russell and also talk a bit about the biography on the late vocalist that just came out. Also this week we talk about new Tesla and a great local show by Accept and K.K.s Priest. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

On Sept 13th Flotsam And Jetsam is due to release their latest studio album “I Am The Weapon” via AFM Records. As he has for the last three albums, guitarist Michael Gilbert joins us once again to talk Flotsam history and a bit about the new album. Gotta say that this is one hell of a followup to 2021’s “Blood in The Water” and even after close to 40 years and 15 albums there is still musical growth and some seriously awesome metal to be found on this one. Keep up with Michael and the rest of the band at their official site flotstildeath.com And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

This week we discuss the total sad cluster that is currently Aerosmith and their sudden but not totally unexpected full stop. This news is a solid body blow for one of us. We also talk a bit about what may be next in the Black Sabbath reissue camp. And we wrap it up with a great chat with up and comer Drew Cagle of Drew Cagle and The Reputation.

We may not have been putting out many episodes lately but we have been enjoying some great concerts this summer. This week we opted to have a recap discussion of the big outdoor tours we’ve attended so far this year. That would include the Sammy Hagar’s Best of All Worlds Tour, the 2024 edition of the Stadium Tour with Def Leppard, and of course M72 with Metallica, Pantera, Mammoth and Five Finger Death Punch. And check this out, new episodes two weeks in a row. Damn!!

Ten years ago bassist Jerry Best appeared for the first time on FoM as part of our HUGE Dio Strange Highways project (EP 183). This week Jerry returns to talk about his time in Lion, Dio, Freak of Nature and Heavy Bones. As well as brushes with Ozzy, Kiss, and other bands. He also brings us up to date on his long musical relationship with Mike Tramp and what they are doing touring wise this year. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

This week we are joined by Babylon A.D. frontman and founding member Derek Davis. The band has just released the latest studio effort “Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day” and Derek is on board to talk about that. He also delves into the deep dark corners of the band’s history from the late 80’s until today. Hopefully this will answer lots of questions about the band and why they just seemed to disappear for years. We get stories about the Bay area YnT Tom Werman and even some Clive Davis thrown in for good measure. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Everyone has those bands that no matter what, if they put out a new release we’re buying it. AC/DC is a great example of this. Then there are bands that perhaps it’s time to hop off the fan wagon. Maybe there’s too many members gone or the writing is not the same or the whole musical style has gone somewhere else. This week Richie arrived with a surprise list of five bands that he used to love and has now opted to stop buying anything new from them. Four of them I agree with Richie on and one I’m still buying every new release they put out. We also kick off the week doing a bit of a review on the Black Sabbath “Anno Domini” boxset. So lotsa discussion this week. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

A bit of discussion as we recap our recent concert adventures. After that we dive in with this weeks guest Marc Ferrari. Marc is out and about talking about the a long awaited Cold Sweat live release “Unburied Alive”. Their debut “Break Out” was released back in 1990 and promptly sunk under the changing tides in musical taste. The release of this new CD has rekindled interest in the band. Marc will give us the history of the band plus give us some other career insights. The chat with Marc comes in at around the 45 minutes mark if ya wanna skip our incessant yakking. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

March 12 1994 Manic Eden released their one and only album. Little Caesar main man Ron Young makes his second appearance on FoM this week to discuss the story of Manic Eden as well as what’s going on with Little Caesar. And Ron being Ron there is no shortage of tales to tell so strap in for a long and hopefully entertaining episode. BTW, the actual Manic Eden talk doesn’t start until about 50 minutes in, yep Ron’s a talker. Did I mention that this one's a long one? Music Theories/Mascot has also reissued this one last month on CD and a limited run on red vinyl. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

This week we are joined by author and frequent FoM collaborator Brian J Heaton to discuss his upcoming book “Roads To Madness” The Touring History of Queensryche 1981-1997. If you may remember Brian was the coauthor of “Building An Empire: The Story of Queensryche”. This new book follows on in further fleshing out the story of the band by detailing their live shows during the classic era of the band. Grab your own copy while they are available at RoadsToMadness.com And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

I was going to title this one March Metal Madness, for some reason Invincible March just resonated more with me. Anyway, this week we discuss some current metal topics. Obviously the latest metal masterpiece from Priest for one along with some Bruce Dickinson, Slayer, Skid Row, “The Other Voice of Ratt” and a potential shakeup at Frontiers. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.