Grab a Stack of Rock / LeBrain Train

Tim’s Vinyl Confessions Ep. 756: Thin Lizzy (CDs)

It has been 40 years since we lost Phil Lynott.  To mark the occasion, Tim Durling recruited myself and John the Music Nut to meticulously document our Thin Lizzy CD collections on video, once and for all.  While I clearly had the biggest collection (and size does indeed matter), I still need three box sets to “complete” my Lizzy CD collection.

Please join Tim, John and myself as we go through every album one by one, and discuss the history of Thin Lizzy from the beginning right to the John Sykes and Ricky Warwick eras of the band.  We have physical CDs to marks several post-Lynott lineups, and loads of compilations and box sets too.  A truly comprehensive episode, and probably the best single-episode overview on the Lizzy discography that you’ll find on YouTube.  Enjoy!

🅻🅸🆅🅴: BLOTTO RETURNS! We chat with Blotto about The Movie and the year 2025, LIVE!

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode

Episode 132:  Blotto’s Back!

What a way to kick off a happy new year!  Please welcome back to the show, and live for the first time on Grab A Stack of Rock:  It’s Blotto!

The guys have had an incredible year.  With the release of Hello! My Name Is Blotto – The Movie!, Blotto and director Rob Lichter have attended numerous premieres and film festivals.  They have been presented with awards, and recognized for their talent and humour.  Again, what a year they have had!

With everything that has happened, the only way to cap it off right was to have the band back on Grab A Stack of Rock to celebrate.   With the movie out, we have so much more to talk about!  We’ll be asking followup questions.  We’ll be talking about the film festivals and celebrations of Blotto history.  We’ll ask about release plans of The Movie and anything else you want to know about.  This will be a live episode, so ask your questions.

Harrison “Blocko Blotto” will be co-hosting this interview, and will meet Blotto face to face for the first time.  They will finally get to meet the guy who made them into Lego minifigs.  This will be exciting.

 

Friday January 2 at  7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

Off The Charts: Least Favourite KISS Songs Per Album

It started with Joey Suto, and our awesome list of Top KISS Songs from every album!  Then Peter Kerr suggested worst KISS songs, and I ran with it, and wrote a controversial list.  Dan Chartrand picked up the ball, and decided to make a video on the subject.  You’ve read my list, but now you can watch an entertaining video list from Dan and Sidney from Slogan’s Rock and Metal as well.

No surprises here – my list is unchanged.  I did however have quite a few questions and comments as to “why” I made my list the way I did.  These are finally addressed in this video.

Slick and fast, we raced through the KISS studio albums in an hour.  A great viewing.  Don’t miss this one.

🅻🅸🆅🅴: Boxing Day Bash & Christmas Music Hauls with Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode

Episode 131:  Boxing Day Bash & Christmas Music Hauls with Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation

With bellies and ears full, please join Harrison and I with special guest Peter Kerr, on Grab A Stack of Rock live!  Tonight is the night that we reveal our Christmas musical hauls (and other recent scores).  The pictures in the thumbnail images are just spoiler-proof teasers and placeholders (though time permitted we will look at those recent arrivals too).  We’ll just have to see what the other guys have in store, because I write these posts in advance!  I can tell you that on my side, I have four new discs to discuss, a cherished musical heirloom, a new music T-shirt and more!

I’ll also reveal what I spent my Christmas money on.

Tonight, 7:00 PM EST, the boys are back in town.

Friday December 26 at  7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

The Contrarians Live: Full List of My Episodes

 

All my Contrarians appearances to date:

  1. Nicknamed Album Covers
  2. Minimalist cover art
  3. Brown album covers
  4. Yellow album covers
  5. Albums with Fire and Explosions
  6. Spaceships! Aliens! Robots!
  7. This Album Cover is Hell!
  8. Toys & Games
  9. Dreaming in Stereo:  Beds & Sleep on album covers
  10. Favourite Bands…WORST Album Covers
  11. They Swapped Covers!
  12. Great Album Covers From Bands We Despise
  13. Top 10 NWOBHM Covers
  14. It’s A Piece of Art!
  15. Compilation Kaos!
  16. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hipgnosis!
  17. Amped Up!
  18. Packaging Fails
  19. Where’s the Band?
  20. Slippery When Wet
  21. Greetings From New York
  22. Done With Mirrors
  23. Eyes Without A Face
  24. Rock Out With Your Clock Out!
  25. Album Covers You Can Hear
  26. Album Covers You Can Smell
  27. Huh?!? Album Covers that Send the Wrong Message

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: Top 11 Maiden Art (edited for length)

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode:
Top 11 Maiden Art

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode

Original broadcast:  May 12 2021

Back in the pandemic days, long before 50 Years of Iron Maiden was a thing, we used to do three-hour shows.  People needed something to do, and something to watch.  Unfortunately, as good as our lists and topics were, the shows were too long and meandering.  Well, not anymore!  I have toiled away and edited down our epic Top 11 Iron Maiden Art show to a manageable hour.  Now it enters its rightful place as a watchable bonus episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden.

Our group of four picked our favourite Eddies from past and present:  Myself, Harrison, Mr. Books and original co-host Deke. We split our picks from albums, singles, and tour shirts.  Through it all, we saw some epic art from Derek Riggs, Melvyn Grant and others.  A monumental set of lists!  The format was called a “Nigel Tufnel Top Ten”, meaning we went up to eleven!  Check out the picks, some of which are pretty obscure and little-seen!

Thanks for watching, and if you just want to know what Maiden art we picked, check out Aaron’s hand-written list below!

Friday Dec 19 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube.

SPOILER – Do Not Read if you intend to watch the episode.

Past episodes:

Handy YouTube Playlist:

What’s coming up on Grab A Stack of Rock? And why is Dan wearing his lifeguard hat?

A quick conversation between Mike and Dan…what’s up with the hat??

 

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: The Greatest Iron Maiden Tribute Album You Never Heard – Food For Thought

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: The Greatest Iron Maiden Tribute Album You Never Heard – Food For Thought

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #130

This is an episode that we have been looking forward to since the very start of this series.  Tribute albums wouldn’t usually figure into our Iron Maiden story, but this is one that we felt so strongly about that there wasn’t even a question.  Check out Sweden’s Food For Thought, who did the best Iron Maiden tribute you’ve never heard.

With 19 tracks spanning the debut album all the way to Dance of Death, Now That’s What I Call ‘Kin Music / What Are We Doing This For? (2003) is the coolest tribute album you’re likely to hear.  Each track is performed in a unique style, from metal to folk to electronica, often in the style of known artists.  Therefore if you would like to hear “Sanctuary” done in the style of Deep Purple’s “Speed King”, you will hear it on this album.  What if Lemmy was in Iron Maiden?  Or Bon Scott?  All those questions will be answered tonight.

Harrison and Mike break down the album’s 19 tracks, including deep cuts, hits and a B-side. We also play song clips to illustrate our points.  It might not be an easy album to find, but our goal is to get your shopping for Food For Thought at the episode’s conclusion.

We hope you enjoy this episode and ultimately the album!  Tune into the premiere as we always like to interact in the comments.

 

Friday December 12 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T., 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube.

Past episodes:

Handy YouTube Playlist:

Recap: Interview With “Shandi” Bassist HARPER

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Episode 129:  Interview with “Shandi” Bassist Harper

Last night I had the pleasure of interviewing bassist Harper on the subject of Kiss and more. Topics covered:

  1. Guitar tech for Paul on the Dynasty tour
  2. Rehearsing Shandi with Paul and Anton Fig, and recording it with Vini Poncia for the album
  3. Working with Peter Criss on his Out of Control solo band that never toured
  4. Loaning Ace the 12 string guitar he played on Fractured Too
  5. Missing the Space Ace
  6. Loaning the Shandi Thunderbird bass out to a legendary metal bassist who used it on his band’s landmark 1984 album (I love this story)!
  7. Working for LucasArts in the 1990s on a Star Wars video game for the N64
  8. Michael Bolton and his band
  9. An Oscar Award!?
  10. And so much more!

Please enjoy the show! I’ll try to get Harper back for any followup questions.

 

KISS: Best Song Off Each Studio Album on Rock Show Critique [VIDEO]

Hot off the heels of our Whitesnake ranking, Joey Suto invited me back on his channel to talk about my favourite band of all time:  KISS.

This time, Joey and I looked at every single studio album, and every single non-album “bonus track”, and picked ONE song from each.  We didn’t ignore the solo albums, either!  No, we dove in deep this time!  From 1974’s Kiss to 2012’s Monster, we picked one song from each.  Then we looked at Alive II, Killers, Smashes, Detroit Rock City, We’re A Happy Family, KISS 50 and all the box sets and other assorted compilations to choose one and only one “bonus track” from all of them.  This is one of the most comprehensive KISS list shows you’re gonna find on YouTube!

I powered through some bruised ribs to do this show in one shot, no edits!

Check it out below and drop a comment!