READER SPOTLIGHT: Harrison From Down Under

Welcome to the first ever Reader Spotlight at mikeladano.com!  It’s time to turn the mirror on you!

If you enjoy this feature, it might be the first of several.  Be sure to let us know.

There’s a story about how this came to be.  The timeline is as follows:

1997:  Record Store Tales Part 135:  Back in a Tracksuit

  • T-Rev discovers Irish band The Sultans of Ping F.C. and turns them into a local cult phenomenon.

2005:  Getting More Tale #425:  The History of the Holy Grail

2012:  Aaron FINDS THE SULTANS ALBUM and gives it to me for Christmas!

  • And there was much rejoicing.

 

2018:  Reader Harrison from Australia alerts me that there is a 2 CD “deluxe edition” of Casual Sex in the Cineplex, in stock at the Canadian Amazon store.

  • Three left in stock!  Ordered, shipped and delivered — thanks for the tip, Harrison.

In gratitude, I decided to do a Reader Spotlight on Harrison, a pretty cool guy who has now helped me solidify my music collection even further.  Harrison graciously agreed.  We had a chat and I asked him ten questions.  Then he went and added more on his own!

Meet Harrison!

M:  So Harrison, tell us how old you are and where you live, and what you’re doing at school.

H:  I’m eighteen (nineteen in July). I live in Perth, Western Australia and I’m currently at university studying Professional Writing and Economics.

M:  How did you discover heavy metal?

H:  Pure chance, almost. My dad likes Led Zeppelin a lot and my mother likewise with AC/DC, so I guess I kind of always had it in my life but is wasn’t until my uncle passed on his CD collection to my family after digitizing it that I experienced a moment of clarity (to quote LeBrain). Among the many other discs of varying genres was a battered copy of Iron Maiden’s Best of the Beast (2 CD edition but only disc 1 included). By the first chorus of the third song (“Man on the Edge”) I was hooked. That disc got a lot of play thereafter and is single handedly responsible for starting my love of metal.

M:  This helps explain why you love the Blaze era so much!  Was there ever any other music you loved this much?

H: My dad has varied musical tastes and a diverse collection, so I got to experience a wide variety of artists. Before Iron Maiden came along my favourite band was the Electric Light Orchestra

M:  Top five bands — GO!

H: Oh dear, I was dreading this question. Very difficult to do a top five, but here I go anyway.
1. Iron Maiden
2. Black Sabbath
3. Deep Purple
4. Dio
5. Electric Light Orchestra
(Honourable Mentions – Ozzy, Alice Cooper, Blaze, Zeppelin, Slade)

M: You’ve guest reviewed here before and I don’t think you’re done writing reviews. What’s next?

H: Well I’ve got some tales to tell but seeing as you can’t write your memoirs at age 20 that will have to wait until I’m older and (hopefully) wiser. I’m planning for it now though. I enjoy writing and discussing the reviews, so I hope to guest more in the future. I just want to keep them few and far between, to preserve the occasion.

M: Who would win in a street fight: Ozzy or Alice Cooper.

H: Hmm…yes…very deep question…very philosophical. They would never fight though. Ozzy can’t leave his mic stand for more than ten seconds, and Alice is too nice.

But for the sake of the question, Alice would. His head is bigger than a bat’s so he safe, and he once pulled a gun on Elvis. (Although he was promptly shown by Elvis how to deal with an armed man when you are unarmed.)

M: That’s right, Elvis was into Karate. Why the heck do you keep coming back here to read the garbage I post?

H: Firstly, it’s not garbage. Secondly, funny you should ask that, because there’s a bit of a tale involved (there’s a Japanese bonus paragraph if you want). In short, I stumbled upon your 2 CD Best of the Beast review a while back, and I enjoyed it a lot. The personal style and in-depth review was far better than the mediocrity I could scrape up from other sites. I liked it so much that I kept coming back to it (although I did disagree with some points). Eventually I branched out into other Maiden reviews before going the whole hog. It was definitely your writing style that hooked me at the start, followed by your great insights, humour and personality that kept me here.

M: Well thanks!  Speaking of writers:  Heavy Metal OverLOAD, or OverLORD?

H: Overload (which would make a decent Metallica album title).

M: Do you get a lot of concerts down your way?

H: Not really unfortunately. Of the classic rock and metal bands, AC/DC come here often. Sabbath has a couple times (they even filmed a DVD in Melbourne for some reason). Maiden seem to do it mainly for the album tours. While I’m sure we get a decent amount of concerts here, most of them are not by bands I would see (which might have something to do with the fact that most of them are pensioners now).

M: If you want LeBrain readers to know just one thing about you, what would that be? GO!

H: I love The X Factor. I love Virtual XI. And (Shock! Horror!) I love Virtual Lights Strikes Over France.

Dream Lineup:
Bass – Geezer Butler
Lead Guitar -Joe Satriani
Rhythm Guitar – Tony Iommi
Drums – Nicko McBrain
Vocals – James Hetfield
Keyboards – John Paul Jones
Acoustic/Harmony Guitar – Adrian Smith

Stats of Doom:
First album – Iron Maiden – Killers
First Concert – Haven’t been to one yet. Hoping Iron Maiden’s Legacy of the Beast Tour will be the one.
First Vinyl – Iron Maiden – Maiden Japan (notice a theme yet?)
First Bootleg -Iron Maiden – 24th May 1981
First album bought twice – None yet thankfully
Current Collection size – 45 jewel cases/digipaks

Thanks Harrison for taking part!  If you enjoyed this Reader Spotlight, please do let us know in the comments.  You could be next!

70 comments

  1. Thanks, LeBrain. It’s an honour to be the first official Reader Spotlight (I believe an interview with Mr 1537 appeared on this site before)

    This was great fun to do. I’m glad I could give something awesome back to you for all the tales, chuckles, and reviews.

    One more stat of doom-
    Favourite rendition of Paranoid- 1986 with Ray Gillen

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. 1537 doesn’t count because I started as one of his readers, so I wanted to interview a writer that I greatly admire. His creativity and bizarre humour, plus the Lego…he is really out there and I love it.

      Thanks for doing this. And thanks for the Sultans!

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

        1. Yeah but I need more life experiences before I can truly write my memoirs. At the moment I can just recount my childhood. and punctuate that with Monday Chuckles

          Liked by 2 people

    1. When I first read that BotB review, and Mike mentioned that the HMOverlord disagreed with him on a song choice, I thought he was talking about some imaginary being. I later found out that wasn’t the case

      Liked by 2 people

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  5. Welcome Harrison.

    Lebrain got me started as well. He let me do a few guest posts on his site, and gave me advice on how to start my own. Thanks again Lebrain.

    A few hints for starting your blog:

    What I find the quickest and easiest posts to do are tribute posts. Birthdays or anniversary Top 10 style posts.
    Say today was Blaze Bayleys birthday (it’s not). You pick your top 10 songs, moments etc..about Blaze.
    I find I do not spend a ton of time writing those posts. Sometimes only a few minutes. They often get more response than the posts I labour over for hours.

    Write when you feel like it, not to a set schedule. Posting every day may work for others, and it may work for you, but my suggestion is post when it feels right. If that is once a week, once a month, or twice daily do what works for you.

    Just a thought, but when you get up and rolling and feel comfortable perhaps you could think of doing posts about any Australian bands that appeal to you.
    I bet there are a ton out there that we have never heard of.
    I love being introduced to music I had never heard.

    Welcome to the community, and great post.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thanks for all the tips. Some good post ideas as well. I will be taking them all to heart. When I do begin I don’t think I’ll be a daily poster as I won’t have music reviews to fill the gaps. I do have a couple ideas for weekly posts though, so we’ll see.

      And as for some unheard Australian bands. Well I can’t think of many off the top of my head, but the debut album by Baby Animals is a great CD. The Angels are also pretty damn good.

      Liked by 1 person

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        2. Woah, you’re a trusting person. You’ll probably encounter a few duds on the Angels CD (it is 40 songs after all), but the BA25 is a great choice. Their live stuff is pretty good too, although her voice has taken a little beating from the touring.

          We also have the Australian Bruce Springsteen- Jimmy Barnes. (If you’re planning on ordering a CD, Freight Train Heart would definitely be the way to go)

          Liked by 1 person

        3. You Ozzies seem like a trustworthy bunch.

          I will listen to these when they arrive and see if I need more.

          As for Jimmy Barnes, I have Freight Train Heart Canadian pressing and some others I believe.
          Mostly 80/90’s.

          I also have Lost Boys with him and INXS and Dead Daisies where he is a guest.

          P.S. If you have no Dead Daisies, you need to rectify that.

          Liked by 1 person

        4. Nope i don’t have any Dead Daisies. (well maybe I do. I haven’t looked in the garden awhile).

          Nice to see Barnes being listened to in Canada. FTH is a great album.

          Like

        5. The Dead Daisies I am referring to will probably be in a sleazy bar, not a garden.
          They are worth checking out for sure.

          It’s been a long time since I played it.
          I need to rectify that.

          Liked by 1 person

        6. Ignore Harrison, Harrison was looking good until he dared suggest filler on the 40yr collection. I mean it’s The Angels so duds in fact get yerself a copy of their Howling album boppinsblog, very Jim Barnes FTH era Aussie magnificence (and I’d take For The Working Class Man over FreightTHeart too, just sayin’) \m/

          Before all that I was going say nice job Mike and welcome Harrison but too good to be true ;)

          Liked by 3 people

  6. Great Post! As a old Canuck band Kick AXE once wrote “Welcome To The Club!” Harrison! You will find a ton of Maiden throughout the blogosphere!
    You gotta love the pensioners bands as you call em….hahaha
    The way Maiden plays at it’s high level at their age I forget that Nicko is 67 now!
    Crazy!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks. Perhaps “Welcome to the Jungle” would be more appropriate though. ;)

      Nicko’s 66 though. And Where Eagles Dare is back in the set (I can’t believe that he and Bruce can still do this. Hell, I thought Aces High was definitely out of Bruce’s range)

      Like

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  7. Smashin’. Nice to learn about one of the readers. I hope you get to see Maiden… that’d be a helluva first gig.

    Welcome to the community!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. I have the Kings Of The Sun s/t which I recently bought but have not had a chance to listen to.
        I have found a used cd of Hoodoo Gurus Magnum Cum Lounder which I will get.

        How about Divinyls? I have What A Life on cassette.
        What albums of theirs should I focus on, or should I try a compilation?

        Liked by 1 person

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  11. I can recommend Temperamental which was my first and thus most played Divinyls album. S/t is the most famous one. Haven’t heard any of the compilations. There seems to be a ton of those.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. For the record, y’all wanna scan to 2:08 of that video of Mike opening the parcel from me just so you can hear him SWEAR IN FRONT OF HIS MOTHER-IN LAW. Wheeeeee!!!

    Like

    Reply

  16. Bit of an update here for anyone who gets this far down

    Top 5 Bands-
    1- Iron Maiden
    2-Black Sabbath
    3- Rainbow
    4- ELO
    5- Dio

    Also, I have now bought an album twice (ELOs A New World Record) and my collection is now 67 jewel cases/digipaks

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Mike trying to make sense of that link…

      DRIVER
      Ah, excuse me. You wouldn’t know where
      I can find these guys, would ya?

      He indicates the sign. Butt-Head turns around and pulls up his
      pants. They look and try to read:

      BUTT-HEAD
      (reads)
      Uh, B…A…U… No, uh, V…

      BEAVIS
      (reads)
      Uh… Buuuuut. Boot. Someone named boot.

      BUTT-HEAD
      (realizes)
      Huh huh. This says Beavis.

      BEAVIS
      And Boot-Head.

      BUTT-HEAD
      That’s Butt-Head. Don’t you get it,
      Beavis. These dudes have the same name as
      us!

      Like

      Reply

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