Marco, Tim and I had a blast taking a deep dive into Kiss’ Creatures of the Night album, box set, and tour! Marco presented a collection of four Kiss bootlegs from the Creatures era. Tim brought the vinyl and cassettes. He even had a related 8-track tape. I dove deep into the Kiss box set: the book, the goodies, the music, the stories and the packaging! (For those asking me for a box set review, this is pretty much it!) Additionally, Uncle Meat stopped by with his memories of seeing the Creatures tour at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Finally, “Ask Harrison” returned with two of the best questions for my Aussie co-host yet. Harrison doesn’t have much in the way of Kiss but did present some interesting stuff in terms of Slade, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, and more.
“Ask Harrison” questions this time were asked by Lana (via Tee Bone) and our newest castmember, an actual Instagram influencer with 200,000 followers who discovered our Led Zeppelin list episode earlier this year, became a fan, and wanted to be a part of our little show herself! Please give her a big welcome.
Next week I’ll be doing a taping with Grant Arthur from Grant’s Rock Warehaus, but we’ll be back again soon. Thanks for watching!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK…with Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 5: Special guests Marco D’Auria and Tim Durling
Week five of Grab a Stack of Rock, and the Kiss Creatures of the Night box set has finally arrived! And it’s awesome – the best Kiss box set to date. We’ll tell you why tonight. Additionally, Marco D’Auria and Tim Durling from the Contrarians will be on hand to show off some of their own Kiss goodies. D’ya think Tim will have 8-track tapes? What are the odds?
The popular “Ask Harrison” feature also returns, with two of the best questions yet. Let’s hope our boy from Australia is ready!
Friday November 25 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook.
Robert “Visions In Sound” Daniels not only grabbed a stack of rock, but also a rack of socks! Rob rocked us all tonight, with some cool soundtracks that are rare and desirable to collectors! Harrison “Mad Metal Man” Kopp also stepped up to the plate with some 3 CD sets and assorted items. Because Rob was on, I decided to go with a Star Wars theme with CDs, VHS, and stickers. But we got much than we bargained for. Other features:
A controversial “Ask Harrison” featuring Tee Bone Erickson
A “Fuck Sammy Hagar” from Dave Lizmi of the Four Horsemen
Some bizarre video tape formats from Rob’s TV days
Next week, Uncle Meat and Marco the Contrarian will be grabbing stacks of rock with us! Don’t miss it!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK…with Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 4: Special guestRobert Daniels
Fourth week of Grab a Stack of Rock! It’s already been a month! We’re doing something special tonight. This evening, Harrison and Mike are joined by one of the internet’s foremost experts on just about everything movie related, Robert “Visions In Sound” Daniels! What will he show off tonight? You’ll just have to tune in and see. Robert is in the midst of listening to his entire soundtrack collection in alphabetical order by movie title. Perhaps we’ll see where he is currently. As usual, it’s his choice how he spends his hour tonight and I can’t wait to find out.
Also, “Ask Harrison” will return as a new regular feature.
UPDATE:
If deliveries come in time, I will also be unboxing:
KISS – Creatures of the Night box set
QUEEN – The Miracle box set
PINK FLOYD – Hey Hey Rise Up CD single
Come on Amazon guy, don’t let us down.
Friday November 18 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook.
Super special guest John Snow showed up tonight with a stack of Japanese imports! Jeff Scott Soto, Danger Danger, Firehouse and more! Harrison also brought some Japanese action along with some assorted musical treats. I showed off some big Thin Lizzy and Kiss imports from Japan, and random stacks of whatever happened to be lying nearby. And when I say random, I do mean random!
We also took viewer questions for Harrison about his home country of Australia. If popular, this will become a regular feature of the show.
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK…with Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 3: Special guestJohn Snow
Continuing to show off our collections, tonight Harrison and Mike are joined by the infamous John T. “Snowman” Snow for another hour of fun. What will we show off tonight? You’ll just have to tune in and see. We all know John’s collection is massive and loaded with rock. How will he choose to spend his hour tonight? Let’s find out!
We also have some surprise viewer questions for Harrison, and YOU can participate in the comments section! Join us, won’t you?
Friday November 11 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook.
Tim Durling‘s Holy Grail this week was a serious rarity: Europe’s The Final Countdown (1986) on 8-track! It was worth the wait, seeing that unusual tape on that format.
We had a surprise guest: Aaron from the KMA, who showed some discs and books! And of course Harrison the Mad Metal Man had some interesting items on display. As for me, I unboxed the Thin Lizzy Rock Legends box set and an unassembled ZZ Top Eliminator model kit.
It’s been a while since I’ve said this, but: tonight, please join Harrison and Mike, as we welcome special guest Tim Durling to our NEW chat show! It’s called Grab A Stack of Rock with Mike and the Mad Metal Man, and this is our unofficial episode 2.
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK…with Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 2: Special guest Tim Durling
Here’s the gimmick. Each episode will feature Mike grabbing a pile of CDs and showing off parts of his collection! With Harrison the Mad Metal Man by his side, they will “show and tell” with toys, games and of course physical music! It’s unplanned, unscripted and will take up only an hour of your time. Uncle Meat suggested this as a new show format, and it was fun last week!
Please join us tonight when 8-track expert Tim Durling will show off some new acquisitions and one holy grail! Tonight…grab and stack of rock, and join us!
Friday November 4 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook.
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 1: Dio – Dreamers Never Die review with Uncle Meat
As I was leaving for work on Friday morning, I thought to myself, “You know, I wonder if Harrison or anybody would feel like going live tonight. Just shoot the shit for an hour. It might be a fun way to be social on a Friday night and it only has to be an hour.”
I messaged Harrison in Australia just as he was tucking in for the night, and he graciously agreed to get up early and join me for an impromptu live stream. Setting his alarm clock, Harrison prepared for our first live show since July!
A big thanks to Marco D’Auria and special surprise guest Martin Popoff, for schooling us on Mystique! From Hamilton Ontario, Mystique were a metal band with a riffy progressive rock bent. Though they later evolved into a more hard rock sound, their metal side seems to be what has stuck with fans and collectors over the decades. Their highly sought physical product commands high prices for original copies. In this interview we covered:
The starting point, and Martin’s role in the genesis of the film
Mystique, their sound, image, and rare releases
Exclusive clips from the documentary film Mystique: Standing on the Firing Line
Rare memorabilia
The Hamilton music scene
The future
See what the fuss was all about in Standing on the Firing Line: the Mystique documentary! The film will be premiering in September:
The Westdale 1014 King Street West Hamilton, ON L8S 1L4
Friday September 16, 7:30 PM
The band will be there, memorabilia will be on display in a “Mystique museum” of sorts. Martin Popoff will be on hand and Marco will be introducing the film in person. Tickets are still available. Get your tickets by clicking here.
Additionally, we made the difficult announcement that this episode will be the final LeBrain Train. Two and a half years ago, a pandemic changed everything about the way we interact socially. Now the world is changing again and I need to re-prioritise certain things in my life. I spent a lot of Friday nights in front of a screen talking to you, laughing with you, sharing with you and surviving a pandemic with you. Now I’d like to spend Friday nights looking at sunsets with Mrs. LeBrain.
It has been a pleasure and a privilege doing this for two and a half years, and I thank you all for making it possible!
Thank you to Meat, Harrison, Tee Bone, Kevin, Sarah, John, Geoff, Aaron, Marco, Tim, Rob Daniels, Robert Lawson, Max, Dr. Dave, Dr. Kathryn, James, J, Lana, Erik, Thussy, Dranovous, Michael Morwood, Mike Slayen, Brian, Brent, T-Rev, Scotty, Mom, and anyone I may have forgotten for coming on the show and bringing your own special sauce to the mix. And of course, to Chris Sarre who I could never get to agree to come onto the show, but was still part of the heart and soul of it anyway.
I love you guys. Truly I do. Towards the end of the show, we played a brand new Tee Bone song called “The Last Train”. It is a collaboration with Dr. Kathryn Ladano on bass clarinet. I think it’s one of the best things they’ve ever done.
The Last Train…wow that’s hard to believe. See you somewhere out there, some time, eventually!
mikeladano.com 