The latest episode of Mars Attacks Podcast contains interviews with Vinny Appice and Steve Zing. Both of these interviews were conducted a few months back, before Black Sabbath announced their return, and before the Danzig Legacy dates took place. As a result, some questions regarding both of these topics have since been answered.

Steve’s interview is up first, he discusses what it was like to prep for the aforementioned Danzig shows, what it’s like to switch from bass or drums (which he has played in Danzig and Samhain respectively), to lead singer in his band Marra’s Drug. Marra’s Drug is the main focus of the interview, but we give you a sneak peak of a future Mars Attacks Classic Albums Column, when Steve is asked about The Misfits. Steve grew up in the same town (Lodi, NJ), went to school with Doyle and was there when the band rose, and consequently came apart. As a result, he provides a unique point of view on the band, and the folklore/urban legend that has surrounded the band all these years later. He also discusses his tenure in Samhain.

Vinny’s interview comes up during the last half of the show, and centers around his new band Kill Devil Hill. He discusses how the band came together, their musical direction, and what each member adds to the mix that makes Kill Devil Hill. With Vinny you also get a sneak peak into a Black Sabbath album that will be featured in an upcoming Classic Albums Column that will debut this summer. While commenting on Sabbath he discusses the possibility of Heaven & Hell continuing without the late Ronnie James Dio, and mentioned several lead singer, namely Glenn Hughes, Bjorn Lande and Rob Halford. He also bring up the fact that he was asked to join Ozzy’s Blizzard of Oz before being asked to join Sabbath, how he purposely set out to differentiate himself from his brother Carmine, the project 9 Chambers, and what it was like to take part in Drum Wars with Carmine.

The episode contains music from Marra’s Drug, Danzig, Black Sabbath and Dio.

The podcast portion can be streamed or downloaded from here:

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During the latest episode of the Mars Attacks Podcast we interview Mark Hunter of Chimaira and Dave Reffett. Mark discusses the band’s new album The Age Of Hell, some of the band’s line up changes, releasing the new album for free in the UK, and what it’s like to have Chimaira associated to shows like Mythbusters, The Farmclub and Deathklok. He also fields a bunch of listener submitted questions.

There isn’t enough I can do to thank Dave Reffett for his help, he has assisted us in obtaining quite a few guests. As a result it is my pleasure to include him in the episode. He discusses his album The Call Of The Flames, what it was like to feature people like George Lynch, Chris Poland, Glen Drover and Mike Mangini, among others that appear on the album, his gear, and briefly touches on future projects he’ll be working on. He didn’t want to mention a whole lot about the latter, but I’m sure it will be cool none the less.

Pictures courtesy of Chimaira and Dave Reffett.

The episode contains tracks off of Chimaira’s Age of Hell, and Dave Reffett’s The Call Of The Flames

The podcast can be streamed or downloaded from here:

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A while back I had read on Blabbermouth how Ozzy would be rereleasing Blizzard Of Oz and Diary Of A Madman, and my first thought was here we go again! Would this rerelease contain Trujillo and Borden? Or Daisley and Kerslake? The other thing to come to mind was an old VH1 special where Ozzy bashes Kiss and Gene Simmons, when they’ve had the dignity to only rerelease their albums once, while this is the fourth release on CD of these two albums.

I’m happy to say that Ozzy and his team have gone out of their way to make this release special. I purchased the 30th Anniversary Collectors Edition, it contains the following items:

Blizzard Of Ozz (expanded edition)
Diary Of A Madman (2 CD- Legacy Edition)
Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman (Vinyl Edition)
DVD – Thirty Years After The Blizzard
100 Page Coffee Book
Poster and replica of Ozzy’s cross

The tracks are remastered with Daisley and Kerslake being featured on both studio albums. This boxed set also features the first vinyl I’ve purchased in twenty years. The vinyl looks exactly like the original vinyls that came out in the 80s on Jet Records. The Diary Of A Madman CD is exactly the same as the original album, while Blizzard of Ozz contains the tracks “You Looking At Me, Looking At You”, and a 2010 remix of “Goodbye To Romance” which only features Ozzy and RANDY RHOADS. The one thing that is confusing is the live CD, it is listed as Ozzy Live on the back of the boxed set, and when I pop it into my system, iTunes detects it as Diary Of A Madman CD 2.

That aside, the real gems here are the live CD and DVD. Listening and watching both of these brought me right back to when I bought the Tribute album on vinyl as a kid. I remember getting home, going over to my neighbor’s house and reading him the notes, and checking out the pictures with him. Playing the album was mind blowing. I was too young to see Randy live (I was 9 when he died), and hearing him play so many classic songs live was just amazing.

RUDY SARZO’s book Off The Rails makes reference to the show that was used on the Tribute album, and alludes to the fact that one other show was recorded for WESTWOOD ONE. I am assuming that this is the show included in the boxed set. On a side note the track “No Bone Movies” that appears on Tribute actually comes from this other show. Randy’s playing is just amazing on the new CD. Although some of the licks are the same on these tracks, most are not. How many bands do you see nowadays that do this? Normally they’re playing everything identically the same no matter when you see them on tour. If you’re not familiar with his playing, he doesn’t get to the point where his playing is over the top, he’s tastefully accenting the songs.

What really blew me away was the DVD. It is great to see people like LEMMY talk about Randy and OZZY, ROB HALFORD. But what about STEVE VAI who mention something to the effect of Blizzard Of Ozz being the first album in a long time to offer something new guitarwise. The live footage is what makes this all worth wild, seeing Randy play live makes it all worth wild. Of course we’ve all seen bits and pieces of the band on AFTERHOURS. This footage is on YouTube and was heavily featured in the “Crazy Train” video that came out along with the Tribute album. Seeing him live at the Palladium in New York, in San Antonio during the Diary Of A Madman Tour is just way beyond cool. He shreds so effortlessly, and conveys emotion through his playing in a way that we haven’t felt and heard before on the studio albums, or in countless pictures that we’ve seen over the years. It almost makes his loss even greater.

Rounding out the live band is the aforementioned SARZO on bass and ever so influential TOMMY ALDRIDGE. All you have to do is compare his playing on the live tracks to KERSLAKE’s on the studio albums to see what I’m referring to (can you say double bass).

I would recommend this boxed set to any die hard OZZY or RANDY RHOADS fans. The live components alone make this boxed set worth its wild. Throw in the coffee book which features a lot of obscure pictures from that era, the poster, the cross (will anyone actually wear this?), and some classic vinyls and CDs, and you’ve got one of the best boxed sets that has been released in the past few years.

Grade: A+

During the latest episode of the Mars Attacks Podcast we are lucky enough to welcome fellow New Jersey native, comedian Don Jamieson.

Be forewarned that this interview contains explicit content.

Don is co-host of VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show, and has just put out a live comedy album called Live and Hilarious. During the interview Don discusses what it was like to win an Emmy Award, being star struck or geeked out as he puts it when interacting with guests on That Metal Show, and the difficulties surrounding writing jokes in a PC era (among other things).

The interview can be streamed or downloaded from here:

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During this episode we have the pleasure if interviewing Jean Beuvoir lead singer/guitarist of Crown of Thorns. Jean has worked with some of the biggest artists of all time, Kiss, Ramones, The Plasmatics and Bruce Springsteen just to name a few. During this interview we discuss why he decided to put Crown Of Thorns back together, what it was like to work with all of the aforementioned artists, and what he’s been up to since the release of the last Crown Of Thorns album Faith. We also veer off of the musical path and talk a little bit about race relations, and how they may have or not have affected him as a person and a musician; as well as how things have changed over the years.

Throughout the episode you will hear the following tracks by Crown of Thorns:

Rock Ready
Cold Blooded Bitch
The Healer
Heartbeat

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This week’s episode of Mars Attacks features an interview with Greg Prato author of The Eric Carr Story and When MTV Ruled the World (among others). The interview is split between both of these books, as both where released around the same time. During the interview he details what it was like to put both books together, what hard rock and metal musicians where interviewed for both (including members of Kiss, Judas Priest, Carmine Appice, Twisted Sister, Anthrax, etc.) and how difficult it was to get them involved in his projects. Some of the other items discussed with Greg are which testimonials (if any) surprised him, why he decided to release both books, and his two upcoming releases, an autobiography of Carmine Appice which he is currently writing alongside the legendary drummer, and Sack Exchange his first non-music related book which is centered around the New York Jets of the 1980s.

Go here to purchase Greg’s Books:

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During this episode we have interview with Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, and James Luna, lead singer of Holy Grail, and former lead singer of White Wizzard. Holy Grail have just released a great new album called Crisis In Utopia. During Luna’s portion of the interview we discuss the making of said album, his influences, playing Waken, and his time in White Wizzard, where he goes into detail to discuss the issues he and former member of the band (James LaRue, and Tyler Meahl both in Holy Grail) had with Jon Leon. Now before anyone jumps to conclusions I did try and contact Jon to get his side of things so that people can determine for themselves what really happened. One of the things that I love about doing interviews for my podcast is that listeners can directly from an artist. It isn’t like playing telephone where things are sensationalized just to put another notch in someone’s proverbial gun. Had I of been able to interview Jon people would have been able to (again) choose for themselves whether what all of these former members are saying is true, or not. Maybe Jon has a good reason that isn’t coming across? Or maybe things are cut and dry, exactly like all of the former members are saying, and is why the label, and Jon himself has decided to not come on the show.

Ripper’s interview was conducted late last year, it is one of a handful of interviews that were conducted for MarkStrigleRadio.com and has yet to be released as a podcast. During this episode we discuss Hail!, his solo album Play My Game, Yngwie Malmsteen, Beyond Fear, Charred Walls Of The Damned, and the abrupt end to his tenure in Iced Earth. Tim is very forth coming, and honest when talking about John Schaffer, and what was promised to him when joining IE, and how it differs to how Judas Priest and Yngwie Malmsteen approached him.

I recommend both interviews to anyone that has been following the dysfunctional history of Iced Earth or White Wizzard, or are fans of either one of these two great lead singers.

During the episode you’ll hear the following tracks:

Holy Grail – Nocturne in D Minor
White Wizzard Shooting Star
Holy Grail – My Last Attack
Holy Grail – Requiem
Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens – Death Race
Beyond Fear – Save Me
Judas Priest – Blood Suckers

Overall we touch on the following topics:

Hail!, David Ellefson, NAMM, Samson Wireless, Andreas Kisser, Jimmy Degrasso, Mike Portnoy, Paul Bostaph, Ray Mayorga, Soulfly, Stone Sour, Spinal Tap, Sepultura, Alice Cooper, Testament, Simon Wright, Motorhead, Pantera, Judas Priest, Accept, Wendy Dio, Bob Kulick, Chris Caffery, John Comprix, Steve Stevens, Jeff Loomis, Michael Wilton, George Lynch, John 5, Scott Ian, Vinnie Paul, Rudy Sarzo, Billy Sheehan, Bobby Jarzombek, Road Runner Records, Road Runner United, Jeff Waters, Cory Taylor, The Grammys, Beyond Fear, SPV Records, Iced Earth, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Schaffer, Matt Barlow, Judas Priest, Ian Hill, K.K. Downing, Rob Halford, Charred Walls Of The Damned, Richard Christy, Play My Game, Heaven & Hell, Hannah Montana, Pink,Amon Amarth, Exodus, Mahevilant Creation, Deep Purple, Klaus Meine, Scorpions, Manowar, Merciful Fate, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Slayer, Witchfinder General, Racer X, Testament, Lamb Of God, Jeff Loomis, Nevermore, Danny Lohner, Nine Inch Nails, Metal Blade Records, Angkor Wat, Waken Festival, Matt Hyde, Steve Evetts, Nuclear Blast, Side One Dummy, Prosthetic Records, Exodus, Kiss, Erik Kluibert, Jon Leon, Sleaze Roxx, Metal Sucks, Metal Sludge

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Episode 14 of Mars Attacks Podcast contains two interviews. One with Airbourne rhythm guitarist David Roads, and another with Age Of Evil frontman Jeremy Goldberg.

Dave discusses the band’s success, the pressure (or lack thereof) when recording No Guts No Glory the follow up to their highly successful album Runnin’ Wild. He also discusses his gear, and whether or not he has every thought of joining lead singer/guitarist Joel O’Keeffe up in the rafters during a show.

Jeremy discusses Age of Evil’s EP Get Dead, their previous work with Marty Friedman and their desire to work with various hard rock and metal legends including Rob Halford. Jeremy also comments on what it was like touring with Jon Oliva’s Pain, and what their dream tour would be.

Topics covered during this episode are:

David Roads, Joel O’Keeffe, Marshall, Gibson Guitars, Lemmy, Download Festival, WWE, No Guts No Glory, Runnin’ Wild, Airbourne, Bob Marlette, Johnny K, Seymour Duncan, Status Quo, Ampeg Amps, Slash, Aerosmith, NASCAR, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Motorhead, AC/DC, Age of Evil, Get Dead, Motley Crue, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Guns N Roses, Chad Kroeger, Jon Oliva, Jon Oliva’s Pain, Savatage, Gravedigger, Rebellion, Skid Row, Judas Priest, Girlschool, Marty Friedman, Megadeth, Cacophony, Jason Becker, Rob Halford, Nuno Bettencourt, Extreme, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Iron Maiden, W.A.S.P., Marshall JCM 800, JCM 900, Gibson Les Paul, Jackson Custom Shop Guitars, Jackson Custom Shop Bass, DW Drums, Seymour Duncan Pickup, Sacred Reich, Dave Ellefson, F5, Flotsam & Jetsam, Soulfly, NAMM.

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During episode 5 we interview David Starr ex-Vicious Rumors bass player and current guitarist/bassist in Wildstarr, a band he formed with frontwoman London Wilde. During the episode we discuss (among other things) his past with Vicious Rumors, how Wildestarr got together, the recording of their album Arrival, his gear, and what the future holds in store for the band.

During the podcast you’ll hear the following Wildstarr songs (in this order): Arrival, Rose In The Dark, Rise

Items touched upon during the episode:

Vicious Rumors, Laaz Rocket, Jeff Thorpe, Warball, London Wilde, David T. Chastain, Kate France, Larry Howe, Wildestarr, Rob Halford, Queensryche, Jim Hawthorne, Kiss, UFO, Thin Lizzy, Blue Oyster Cult, Pain Killer, Halford, Resurrection, Judas Priest, Vinnie Moore, Brad Gillis, Mark McGhee, James Rivera, Dream Theater, Ronnie James Dio, Geoff Tate, Carl Albert, Michael Fischer, KNAC, Juan Arteaga, In An Outrage, Iced Earth, Yngwie Malmsteen, DiAddario, Sans Amp Tech 21 GT2, EMG, Gibson Guitars, Les Paul Custom, Greco Guitars, Ibanez Guitars, Chipster P.R., Chip Ruggieri, Talking Metal Wire, Metal Army America

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Jeremy Goldberg joins me to discuss Age of Evil‘s new EP Get Dead, their previous work with Marty Friedman and their desire to work with various hard rock and metal legends including Rob Halford. Jeremy also comments on what it was like touring with Jon Oliva’s Pain, and what their dream tour would be.

Topics covered are:

Age of Evil, Get Dead, Motley Crue, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Guns N Roses, Chad Kroeger, Jon Oliva, Jon Oliva’s Pain, Savatage, Gravedigger, Rebellion, Skid Row, Judas Priest, Girlschool, Marty Friedman, Megadeth, Cacophony, Jason Becker, Rob Halford, Nuno Bettencourt, Extreme, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Iron Maiden, W.A.S.P., Marshall JCM 800, JCM 900, Gibson Les Paul, Jackson Custom Shop Guitars, Jackson Custom Shop Bass, Ampeg, DW Drums, Seymour Duncan Pickup, Sacred Reich, Dave Ellefson, F5, Flotsam & Jetsam, Soulfly, NAMM.

The following Age of Evil Tracks are featured:

Living Sick Dream
Eye For An Eye (Live)
Get Dead

Other songs featured:

White Wizzard – Over The Top
Wayne – The Moon Effect

The following tracks can be heard behind my banter:

Lazarus A.D. – Last Breath
Sylosis – After Lifeless Years
High Spirits – Wanted Dead
Trivium – Down From The Sky
Elder – White Walls

Other items discussed during the episode:

Will Haven, Foo Fighters, Gojira, Mastodon, Soundgarden.