RECORD STORE TALES #1230: 101 Dumpsters: 2025 In Review
Dear friends and strangers,
As we gather and recall the past year, it is important to remember the many times we have sat here together before. Most years since 2018 have been years of change. 2025 is no exception. Always setbacks, losses and triumphs! Let’s have a look back the good, the bad, and the awesome!
Part the First
2025 represented a personal shift away from writing and more towards videos. The reason for this is two-fold:
1. The Community changed from primarily writers, to YouTubers. Whereas I used to do writing collaborations, now I am invited onto YouTube shows. Collaborations abounded in 2025! I became a regular on The Contrarians Live, with a total of 27 episodes in 2024-25 (Full list of 27 episodes can be found by clicking here). Many of these included Martin Popoff – pinch my younger self! I also did several episodes of Rock Daydream Nation with Peter Kerr, My Music Corner with Johnny Metal, Tim’s Vinyl Confessions with Mr. Durling, Darcyska with D’Arcy Briggs, Grant’s Rock Warehaus with Mr. Arthur, Slogan’s Rock and Metal Extravaganza with Sidney and sometimes Logan, Rock Show Critique with Joey Suto, Off the Charts with Dan Chatrand, and of course, a couple amazing episodes on The Collection with Mr. John T. Snow (more on that later). The biggest channel I appeared on in 2025 was Pete Pardo’s Sea of Tranquility. I did two episodes with them, both hosted by Jamie Laszlo. This has kept me well busy!
2. 50 Years of Iron Maiden. We debuted on January 10, 2025 and are still rolling with the Maiden! We’ll be done mid-2026.
It has been an incredible year creatively. There is a lot to be proud of. Videos appeal to a different audience than written articles, and so we’ve lost people along the way, but one must always follow their creative muse. I have been making videos since 1989. With the tools we have now, it is an old burning passion that is now easy to follow. There were still written some reviews in 2025, and there will be in 2026, but I must go where the wind takes me. I’m not fighting it or questioning it anymore. I’m just doing what I want to do. Music always finds its way into everything I do.
Part the Second
We can’t talk about 2025 without talking about our dive back into interviews! Lacking confidence, I swore them off a while ago. Not including people that I consider friends, such as Robert Lawson and Tim Durling, 2025 was primarily dominated by six interviews, in chronological order:
1. Blotto: Early in the year, I reached out to Blotto about an interview for their new movie, Hello! My Name Is Blotto! The Movie. To my surprise, I got the whole band and movie director Rob Lichter as well. This went so well that it created lasting friendships, our own “Blotto” names (Kitchener and Blocko Blotto), and a second interview coming in 2026. This gave me the confidence I needed to do more.
2. Alan Niven: Thank you John T Snow from 2Loud2OldMusic for inviting me to co-host his interview with former Guns N’ Roses manager Alan Niven. It was for his book Sound N’ Fury which has still not come out. John and I were fortunate enough to read it before “someone” had the plug pulled…and you can certainly guess who is probably responsible. What a great interview experience this was! Alan puffed his cigar and answered our questions thoughtfully and with considered wit. A formidable man who treated us with nothing but thanks and gratitude.
3. Next Up was Bob Cesca from Camp Chaos, though this did not air for a few months after we recorded it, as it was slotted in for 50 Years of Iron Maiden episode 25: Visions of the Beast. Bob was responsible for those “NAPSTER BAD!” cartoons in the early 2000s, and his love of science fiction and Rush made him one of the easiest conversations we’ve ever had. Talking to Bob gave us another confidence boost. I said to Harrison, “We should get in touch with the Blaze Bayley camp…”
4. Blaze Bayley is our proudest achievement to date, collectively and personally. With very little notice, we were given an early morning recording time on a Monday. What resulted is an interview that Harrison and I felt no hyperbole in calling “The Best Blaze Bayley Interview You’ve Ever Seen” From Iron Maiden to mental health to science fiction and punctuality, Blaze was everything we hoped he would be and more. To say we have interviewed someone from Iron Maiden, is a bucket list item we can check off. A lifetime of wishes come true. They say “Don’t meet your heroes?” Harrison and I both disagree.
5. Rick Hughes from Sword was another big one. Here is a guy who I have been listening to since 1987; even longer than Blaze by a good margin. Dan Chartrand and I were both offered Rick, but rather than duplicate each other, we decided to team up. The subject was Rick’s new solo album Redemption, but we went everywhere with this interview. Opening for Motorhead, reuniting the band, and writing with Aldo Nova: we covered it all on this excellent interview with a Canadian metal legend.
6. Tom Harper, known professionally as Harper, was a fun way to end the year’s interviews. The only thing that can compete with anyone from Iron Maiden is a guy who played on a Kiss record. Harper played bass on “Shandi”, and had a million stories. Check out the episode that my mom called the “best ever!” Even Broadway Blotto agreed!
Part the Third: Top Five Albums of 2025
The part everyone waits for every year! There is also an accompanying Tim’s Vinyl Confessions episode to go with my list, but for those who prefer to read… read on!
My music list this year is a delightful mix of genres and bands. I love that a band well over 50 years old can put out my #1 album of 2025. On the opposite side of the age gap is a hot young band out of Toronto. In the middle is a British band that debuted in the early 2000s. All of these albums are worth checking out, but please note my #1 pick is particularly special.
Here’s to the best of 2025!
5. The Beaches – No Hard Feelings
The Toronto quartet rolls on with another hit-filled new album. Cutting edge rock & pop from a feminine perspective.
4. Ghost – Skeletá
Another band that simply rolled on with another album full of memorable classics… it’s Ghost!
3. The Darkness – Dreams On Toast
Vying for Album of the Year, it easily could have been Dreams on Toast. An exceptionally strong album, and easily their best since Last of Our Kind.
2. Harem Scarem – Chasing Euphoria
Another contender for Album of the Year. Reaching highs not heard since the early 1990s, Harem Scarem have a sound that they have mastered, and they continue to find new ways of writing catchy hard rock.
1. Styx – Circling From Above
When I finally got my hands on the new Styx, I knew immediately that the Battle of 2025 was over – finished!! New(er) members Terry Gowan and Will Evankovich have brought fresh sounds to the first rock band I ever liked. That’s three incredible albums in a row from Styx! Progressive rock and beyond.
Tim’s Vinyl Confessions Ep. 754: Best Albums of 2025
Part the Fourth: Personal Stuff
Another years of highs and lows on the personal front. My Aunt is in a care facility; she has a hard time remembering us. We also lost our beloved elder. Losing Grandma shortly after her 101st birthday was surreal. She’d had so many health scares and recoveries, that I mourned her multiple times in the last five years before she finally passed. I was so happy to see her make 101 years. We saw her on her birthday, and that was the last time we saw her. I gave her eulogy, and some people say it’s the best public speech I ever gave. Highs and lows!
There were a ton of big changes and challenges at home in 2025. Renovations, which I’ve been talking about for years, have finally commenced! New windows and doors are installed, and more purging of belongings we didn’t need. I established a home office for working remotely. That is probably the biggest change at home in 2025. I haven’t commuted anywhere in a month now. This has drastically altered my mental health, as I navigate new routines. Fingers are crossed!
2025 also represented a new personal peace. Trying to be a better person year after year, I endeavored to put the past behind me and reach out to some old friends. To my surprised delight, one of them reconnected with me, and we are friends again. The one that I once publicly said would never talk to me again, has been back in my life for a year. Another declined my olive branch, but I’ll take this win. Working towards a more peaceful life is a good goal to have, and it doesn’t mean you can’t still listen to angry heavy rock! Though I certainly can’t rock physically as hard as I used to.
One thing that I am slowly learning is that years tend to get harder as you age. We lose people, and you can never predict that the the next year will be a year without funerals. The last part of 2025 has been dominated by physical pain and anxiety. Painfully, I am forced to realize that the body breaks down as we abuse it, year after year. Physically, though I am taking care of myself by trying to eat better, and practice better mental health, my body is betraying me. New pains become familiar pains. Some go away for months and surprise you with a return later on, always at inconvenient times. This year was the year I dropped my cell phones into a dumpster, and took a dive for the worse. I am still paying for that mis-step. There are good and bad days for pain. Today is a particularly bad one. Healing must continue in 2026.
Part the Last
In these uncertain times, we can only hope things don’t get worse next year. Nobody can say what the new year will bring, but I do know we’ll have plenty of new music to digest. New tours, as Journey, Iron Maiden, Guns N’ Roses, and even Rush and Triumph roll into 2026.
I don’t want to end the year on a bummer. I can’t promise that 2026 will be the “best year ever!” or that I will reach newer and higher accomplishments. I can only promise that I will continue to follow my creative muses. I have many creative hats. I’m a videographer, a podcaster, a writer, a drone pilot, and a cook. You’ve been with me as I’ve shared my journey, on these subjects and more. Journey on, I will. More adventures. More food. More new discoveries. More MUSIC! Even years ago, when I “quit” writing about music, it still found its way into my work. Every drone video has a kick-ass soundtrack, and every fictional story I’ve ever written has a soundtrack to it (whether you can hear it or not). Music has been my life since 1977, when John Williams first opened my ears with the bombastic sound of brass, percussion and strings. It’ll never go away.
I end this year with a message of hope.
I have learned that nothing is permanent. The present sometimes feels like it, but nothing lasts forever and soon our new “normal” will be quite different from today. If I can reconcile with the most unlikely of old friends, then there is always hope. Hope for the future. Happy 2026, and let’s continue to break new ground…together.
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