Not much to be said here, just four guys at a mall signing autographs for throngs of fans! From the Pepsi Power Hour.
VHS Archives
VHS Archives #134: Geoff Tate of Queensryche with Terry David Mulligan in Vancouver (1991)
Ever wanted to know what the legendary Little Mountain Sound studios in Vancouver looked like? Well, you get a white wall with “Sue was here” graffiti on it. But, you also get the legendary Terry David Mulligan interviewing the even more legendary Geoff Tate of Queensryche in October 1991! Peak ‘Ryche.
The band were in town for a session and Mulligan caught Tate when the band were busy sound-checking. Lots of interesting talk here. Queensryche has done a lot of studio work in Vancouver. Why? According to Tate, because Seattle didn’t have the recording technology they needed to make their kind of music! You can hear Vancouver on the Empire album, as Geoff explains.
They also talk about “Silent Lucidity” which of course was the big song for them. It’s not exactly clear what Queensryche were doing at Little Mountain in Vancouver at that time. Should I ask Mike Fraser?
VHS Archives #133: Winger perform 2 acoustic tracks on Start Me Up (1993)
Fantastic interview by Erica Ehm once again, with Reb Beach and Kip Winger. Lengthy session too, 23 minutes in total! Starting with some country riffs (Reb on 6-string, Kip on 12-string), the boys defied the expectations of the early 90s and proved they could really play — and how! For the Winger guys, it was already “first thing in the morning”, otherwise known as “mid-afternoon” to us; Kip had his cup of coffee ready! (Really good coffee, according to Erica.)
Sad observation: We’ve seen past interviews with groups like Bon Jovi, where throngs of fans were banging on the big MuchMusic windows. Winger only got a couple curious onlookers pulling faces. Too bad.
Songs played:
- “Can’t Get Enuff” (at the 5:30 mark)
- “Who’s The One” (17:30 in)
Topics covered:
- Why were Winger not as big in Canada as they were at home?
- Playing for musicians
- Videos / “the image”
- The art of songwriting / lyrics
- Why was the new album called Pull?
- Reb’s instructional guitar video
- Chris Robinson, Lars Ulrich, Beavis and Butt-head, and other critics
- Playgirl magazine!
- Being “rock stars”
Winger ends the session with a blues jam.
Awesome acoustic tunes and a fantastic interview. Check it out below.
VHS Archives #131: Ugly Kid Joe…cancelled again?
If anything, this Ugly Kid Joe bumper for Start Me Up is just a reminder of a time when certain words were OK on national television!
VHS Archives #130: Star Trek cast members introduce “Best Dance Video” at the MTV Awards 1993
The 1993 MTV Awards included an awesome performance from Lenny Kravitz with John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin on bass, and Aerosmith rolling out their new hit “Livin’ On the Edge”. But I can’t show you those! For some nerds in the audience, the highlight of the show might have been a video appearance from Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and William Shatner himself in a parody of his show Rescue 911.
VHS Archives #129: Alice Cooper & Kane Roberts ’87
Another in a long line of superb Erica Ehm interviews! Alice Cooper seems like a pretty easy guy to interview, but in the late 80s Alice was on the cutting edge (pun intended) of horror-themed live shows. He was a more controversial figure then, but as usual, Erica had a great rapport with her guests. As a bonus, Alice brought with him Kane Roberts to premiere his new solo album and music video “Rock Doll”.
The two guys banter back and forth like a comedy duo, while Erica peppers them with both fun and topical questions. This interview is a must-see front to back. Topics covered:
- The stage show circa 1987, when Alice was going full-on with the blood and gore
- Is Kane the Rambo of rock and roll?
- Alice on Lemmy
- Jokes about snakes
- Acting, horror, and John Carpenter using some of Alice’s stage tricks in Prince of Darkness
- The script that Alice and Kane wrote called Scarebox
- Drinking and drugs
- Hilarious “Pepsi ad”
- Kane on Alice (Several great moments here.)
- Upcoming bands like E-Z-O, Guns N’ Roses, and Faster Pussycat
- Tipper Gore!
- Can rock and roll go to far?
When I was a kid, I watched this interview over and over again. I even used it in a highschool project on censorship. This is a full Power Hour episode (sans music) and you want to watch the whole show from start to finish.
VHS Archives #128: Armored Saint on the Power 30 (1991)
John Bush and Gonzo Sandoval stopped by the brand new Power 30 in September 1991 to talk about their new album, Symbol of Salvation. Founding guitarist Dave Pritchard passed after a short but impactful battle with leukaemia. The band had to carry on, and they did with a smashing album. There’s a bit of footage from their gig at Rock ‘N’ Roll Heaven. Great if short interview with a couple guys who are now heavy metal legends.
VHS Archives #127: Ugly Kid Joe hit on Teresa Roncon on the Power 30 – 1993
Ahh, summer. The boys in Ugly Kid Joe were on the make with Teresa Roncon on the Power 30, in the warm rays of 1993. Their open flirtations with the host is unusual by today’s standards. If Teresa was irritated by Whitford Crane and Dave Fortman, she didn’t let on. Total professional.
Other subjects besides flirting with the host:
- Writing for the next album
- Meat Loaf
- Touring
- Violence at concerts
VHS Archives #126: Metal Mike talks to the Quireboys (1993)
With the London Quireboys back in the news these days, it’s a good time to resurrect this interview from the Metal Mike Show with Spike and Guy Griffin. The year was 1993 and the Quireboys were out supporting their newest album Bitter Sweet & Twisted. This is just a quick clip regarding opening for big bands such as The Stones, Bowie and Aerosmith.
Unfortunately this is the last clip I have on tape from the Metal Mike Show, a cool local rock program that helped compensate for the loss of the Pepsi Power Hour. Mike used to go to Sam the Record Man and talk to Al King about new releases. I think in the pilot episode, Rush’s Roll the Bones was brand new. So that gives you an idea of the time frame. Mike also talked to local bands like the Groove Daddies and big stars like Poison. Great show.
Anyway, here’s Spike and Guy: formerly the Quireboys!
VHS Archives #125: Def Lep dish on Danzig (1993)
Cast your minds back to the summer of 1993. Def Leppard were still sailing high on a string of hits from Adrenalize and the singles it spawned. Meanwhile in another region of rock, Glenn Danzig was out supporting Danzig’s third album and a new live EP. When the two bands crossed paths at a festival gig in Europe, the word went down that Glenn and Phil Collen came to blows. Or was it just tomato soup? Let’s get Phil’s side of the story in this classic VHS Archive from MuchMusic’s Pepsi Power Hour.
Hosted by Teresa Roncon. Love Joe’s hat!!
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