Rik Fox, a founding member of W.A.S.P., the creator of the band SIN, and long-time Steeler bassist, is my latest guest.
With new music by Steeler and the upcoming documentary about Steeler, a resurgence of interest in the music of SIN, and new all-star projects on the way, bassist and songwriter Rik Fox, sat down with me to talk about burying the hatchet with Dana Strum, the new Steeler song, the Steeler documentary, and finally getting ahold of his SIN demo recordings after nearly 40 years!
Pariah Burke talks once again to Ray West, lead singer and lyricist for new modern Rock project SupaFly and O.G. New York street metal band Spread Eagle, SupaFly, a new sound, and a much more dynamic way of singing for the guy who sang "Switchblade Serenade" and "Broken City." We discussed the evolution of Ray's voice from that "vicious", raspy falsetto of the 22-year-old Spread Eagle singer to a more mature chest singer who still hits what he calls "the bullet points" of Spread Eagle songs. In between the usual interview topics--appearances, new albums from SupaFly and Spread Eagle, what's next--we chatted about Aerosmith's heaviest music, great Rock singers, U2, the current state of the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame, and when Ray West attended a party in New York with Prince jamming all night.
Topics Discussed:
- the origin of SupaFly
- When the debut album drops
- Exclusive! The next single from SupaFly revealed!
- SupaFly's music was so personal, it almost wasn't released
- That "vicious", raspy falsetto Spread Eagle singer grows as a singer and as a man
- the importance of following your passion
- being addicted to music
- Singing from the chest and things to watch out for
- Behind-the-scenes of Spread Eagle recording
- Hitting the "bullet points" of classic Spread Eagle songs like "Broken City" and "Devil's Road"
- The bottle-and-straw singing practice technique
- The problem of (maliciously) recording concerts live on cell phones
- The industry secret behind live albums
- Preparing for the scary Monsters of Rock Cruise
- Spread Eagle's first appearance on MORC
- Pariah's safety tip about Danger Danger's Ted Poley at sea
- Why would anyone pay $1,000 to go see a band?!
- Prince jamming for 3 hours at a New York after hours party
- Ace Frehley's makeup should have been retired like a jersey number
- Band splits and politics
- U2
- Aerosmith's heaviest music
- Black Sabbath's Black Sabbath
- The joy of Greatest Hits albums
- The Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame... isn't
- Great Rock singers
- Spread Eagle's increased appearances
- The new Spread Eagle album
- SupaFly opening for Spread Eagle?
- Spread Eagle's unusual live set list
Pariah Burke talks with very positive Wig Wam frontman Glam (aka Åge Sten Nilsen) about the band’s new album, Out of the Dark, as well as the music of their past, present, and future.
The pandemic hit the music industry hard. Few were hit as bad as Norwegian Glam Metal band Wig Wam. At the end of 2021 the band couldn't get a booking, and, despite a new record from Frontiers Music SRL, they were about to call it quits for the second time in their 20-year career. Then came Peacemaker.
An offbeat superhero TV show from the mind of James Gunn saved Wig Wam by setting the show's stunning opening sequence dance number to their 2010 song "Do Ya Wanna Taste It?" Overnight Wig Wam was not only saved, but had become one of the hottest bands on earth. A year later, they have another new album and a year long tour lined up, including a slot on the Monsters of Rock Cruise.
The attitude of frontman Åge Sten Nilsen couldn't be more positive, as you'll see when I sit down with Åge on the day their new album, Out of the Dark, dropped.
Now on their 7th album and in their 20th year together, France's BlackRain is among the vanguard of modern Melodic Hard Rock, Glam, and Sleaze Metal proving every day that Rock isn't dead. Pariah Burke sat down with BlackRain frontman Swan Hellion in the latter's first North American interview to talk about the band's history, crazy touring stories, and how the new album, Untamed, is finally the sound Swan and BlackRain sought for all along.
Priya Panda, the talented, sexy forever untamed singer and frontwoman of melodic Hard Rock and Metal band Diemonds, and recently solo Pop singer, sits down with the Hard, Heavy & Hair Show’s Pariah Burke to talk about her solo music, that time the band literally crashed the Rocklahoma Festival, how Napalm Records failed Diemonds, and her surprising answer about whether Diemonds is gone forever.
Sam Bam Koltun, arguably the most exciting Rock guitarist under 30, sits down with the Hard, Heavy & Hair Show's Pariah Burke to talk about his work with Faster Pussycat, Dorothy, Budderside, and how a broken finger doesn't stop him being a guitar badass.
Topics include:
- Touring and playing with a broken finger
- How is Dorothy Martin to work with?
- How is Sam Bam Koltun to work with?
- What songs Sam is on on Gifts From the Holy Ghost
- New music from Faster Pussycat
- Sam Bam Koltun and Limewire
- the new Ozzy record
- Sam's favorite guitar player
- Who would Sam most like to play with?
- Guitar and sleep
- Opening for a childhood hero
- Opening for Shinedown--without their instruments and gear!
- Playing that insane Shinedown stage
- Sam's family likes which bands?
- Budderside's new music
- Upcoming shows with Dorothy and Faster Pussycat
- Favorite Stoner Rock/Sludge bands
- Where is Sam Bam Koltun 5 years from now?
Ray West (Spread Eagle, George Lynch’s Electric Freedom) talks with Pariah Burke about joining George Lynch’s band, the music he’ll sing, recording new music for George Lynch and Spread Eagle, the stories behind Spread Eagle’s hits, and the changing atmosphere for our generation to talk about mental health and troubles, among other topics.
There once was a talented Melodic Thrash and Power Metal band from Southern Oregon that was cutting their own path to success. Unfortunately, they stepped off the path, and they've been lost in the woods for 25 years. This year, they found their way back to the trail, and now they're poised to pick up where they left off.
Taking a quarter-century-old demo tape of songs so good it became a fascination for collectors as far away from Oregon as Germany, and applying modern musicianship and mastering techniques, the cult favorite band Emissary has reunited for success. And they've asked me and The Hard, Heavy & Hair Show to host the exclusive, worldwide premiere of their next song, a track that won't be available until they drop their first official album in 25 years, just before 2022.
I spoke with the driving force members of Emissary--then and now--about the song, the new album, and just what the hell happened to get them so off track for so long.
More info at https://rockn.me/emissary | https://PariahRocks.com/Interviews
Steven St. James has a soulful singing voice that has taken him from Motown's Hard Rock band Kagny and the Dirty Rats with a pre-BulletBoys Marq Torien, to the band Sarge where he cowrote some of what would become Rough Cutt's hits with guitarist Chris Hager, to, finally, just in the last couple of years, reuniting with Hager and fronting Rough Cutt itself with a revitalized lineup. His voice brings back to Hard Rock a soulfulness, a vulnerability, but also a street corner toughness, that's lacking from many bands these days.
Steven's singing ability is big and beautiful and outdone only by his humility and kindness. I first met Steven at the first performance of the current Rough Cutt lineup in 2019. We've been friends ever since. It turns out, Steven is the only member of Rough Cutt I haven't previously interviewed, so we decided to rectify that in what became part-interview, part-hangout. We talked about his time with Motown, the new Rough Cutt song "Black Rose," which he co-wrote, his singing and songwriting career, how he gets along with original Rough Cutt vocalist Paul Shortino, and more.
Cassidy Paris is a teenager with a voice--and mind--more mature than her years. From Melbourne, Australia, Cassidy has reached across the globe with a Rock N' Roll signing voice evocative of Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, and Lzzy Hale. She's also a spokesperson for Metalheads Against Bullying and a woman with a heart almost as big as her amazing voice.
Cassidy has been mentored by her father, Wicked Smile guitarist Stevie Janevski, and Danger Danger and the Defiants vocalist Paul Laine, but, as excellent as those musicians are--and I'm a fan of all three of those bands--Cassidy's talent at the next level. I can see her music leading the next generation of Hard Rock and bridging the gap between that genre and Pop music in a way not seen since Lee Aaron. That much talent, packed into a level-headed 18 year-old who has been recording since she was 13, gives me hope that the next generation of Rock N' Roll is in good hands.
Recently I had the pleasure and honor of talking with this talented, smart, passionate woman from her home in Australia, from a bedroom that mirrors any Rock fan's in the 80s--with wall-to-wall concert and band posters, guitars, and Peavy amps.
More info at https://rockn.me/cassidyparis | https://PariahRocks.com/Interviews
Gregg Fox is an accomplished Rock keyboardist and composer who has played with some of the biggest in Hard Rock, Metal, Country, and Pop. He's also the creator of Renaissance Rock Orchestra, a Trans-Siberian Orchestra-sized project featuring members of Yes, Black Sabbath, Skid Row, Dokken, AC/DC, Whitesnake, Guns N' Roses, Survivor, Heart, and more, including two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inductees. RRO combines combines elements of Classic Rock, Progressive Metal and Symphonic influences into a highly energetic and beautiful blend of powerful, spellbinding rock majesty. And RRO is poised to become the next massive Rock N Roll spectacle touring not just at Christmas like TSO, but year round. Pariah Burke spoke with keyboardist and composer Gregg Fox about the spectacle that is the Rennaisance Rock Orchestra, his 7 years spent sailing around the Bahamas, and how the COVID pandemic might just have made Las Vegas the center of Rock music in America.
Britain's Chez Kane is an 80s Rock songstress who studied at the feet of Vixen and Pat Benatar, but who, through a terrible twist of fate, was frozen in her early 20s in a cryogenic sleep chamber for the last 35 years. In 2020 her long lost cryo tube was discovered, and Chez was defrosted and awoken by the lead singer of Crazy Lixx just in time to bring the world an album full of much needed hopeful, energetic, totally fun 80s Hard Rock.
Signed to Frontiers Music, Chez Kane is optimistic and effervescent about her debut solo album in this new era. I spoke with Chez, and the day after this interview, Chez Kane's self-titled debut album charted in the UK. Two days after that, it landed on the Billboard Hard Music Albums and Top New Artist Albums charts in the U.S., proving that Rip Van Winkle 80s songstress Chez Kane and songwriter Danny Rexon have tapped into a universal desire for fun, light 80s Hard Rock.
Chez and I talk about:
