GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 107: Ask Jex Anything! Music and Mental Health
Music and mental health: what’s the connection? Quite a lot actually! But let’s get right to the point. This episode is “Ask Jex Anything”. You may have noticed that my Friendly Frenchman Co-host has not been on the show as much as he was during the 2023 summer season. Jex is happy to be back, at least for now, and to talk about what he’s been up to in the meantime. Jex will be taking all questions live!
We will also be discussing mental health and music. Music is essential to the mental health of guys like Jex and I, and we are happy to open up. For the first time, I will discuss a chapter of my story that I have never talked about publicly. We hope to reduce stigma and to encourage healthy ways of dealing with life…like listening to music.
Because this is Grab A Stack of Rock, we have some music to show. I have chosen some special albums from my collection to discuss, along two themes: songs about battles with mental health, and artists with their own battles to fight.
Don’t miss this special live episode. Ask Jex anything…ANYTHING! See you this morning in the comments!
Saturday July 5 at 8:00 AM EST, 9 AM Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.
50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 16: Live At Donington & A Real Live Dead One
A special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 episode
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #106
Scream for me, YouTube! Harrison and Mike will be live Friday evening, July 4, for our next episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden. This period is a busy one in Maiden history. The 1992 Fear on the Road tour resulted in a live album, 1993’s A Real Live One, which contained no overlap with previous live album Live After Death (ignoring Maiden England for this comparison). The point was value, but was that a good idea? The intention was always to follow it with A Real Dead One, but Bruce’s announcement that he was leaving Iron Maiden in 1993 put the dampers over the whole affair. After Bruce had played his final show and was diving into making his solo album Balls to Picasso, Iron Maiden released a double live Live at Donington to commemorate the significant 1992 live gig with Bruce in the band.
There was also a VHS release of Bruce’s final show called Raising Hell, but we will tackle that subject in the next live episode. For this week, we are covering 4 CDs of live Maiden, plus all the B-sides. That means you’re getting A Real Live One, A Real Dead One, Live At Donington, plus the live singles for “Fear of the Dark” and “Hallowed Be That Name”. Every song – that is how we do it here on 50 Years of Iron Maiden.
Artwork is an interesting subject to tackle when it comes to these albums. Derek Riggs was back after a one-album absence, to provide artwork on A Real Live One and A Real Dead One. Donington was issued with a simple white “bootleg” cover, the Maiden logo stamped in black, and no booklet. Some consider this release to be an early form of an “official bootleg” release.  All these albums were reissued in 1998 with some changes. A Real Live One and A Real Dead One were combined into one, and Donington was given actual cover art this time by Marillion artist Mark Wilkinson, featuring a demonic bat-Eddie 1992 concert goers would recognise from the show. Mark will reappear in this series down the line….
Harrison and Mike will attempt to digest all of this live Maiden tonight, live. Join us in the comments!
I am pleased to announce that Jex Russell is returning to the Grab A Stack of Rock live arena this Saturday morning. In addition to that, Harrison Kopp and Mike will still be doing Episode 16 of 50 Years of Iron Maiden on Friday night, at our usual time. Here are the details.
Friday July 4 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.: Grab A Stack of Rock Episode 106 50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 16: Live At Donington & A Real Live Dead One
Mike and Harrison will tackle FOUR CDs of live Iron Maiden…live!
Saturday July 5 at 8:00 A.M. E.S.T.: Grab A Stack of Rock Episode 107 Ask Jex Anything! Music and Mental Health
Jex Russell returns to Grab A Stack of Rock for his first full live episode since fall 2024. Jex has had a lot of “Where have you been?” questions and he is eager to answer. We’ll be talking about music, mental health, and the importance of taking little moments for yourself. Mike will talk about his own journey with a chapter of his tale that he has never told before.
Don’t miss these two crucial live episodes of Grab A Stack of Rock!
Please join Jex and I today for a repeat of a personal favourite episode from both of us. This was our 2023 Canada Day celebration, which I am running again today at 1:00 PM EST (July 1, 2025). When Jex and I did this show originally, it happened to fall on June 30. I am happy to run it on the actual date of Canada Day in 2025!
If you missed this episode, it was a really special one. For Canada Day, Jex and I dug through our collections of physical media to present what we think are the Top 11 Canadian Bands that are less known outside Canada. It was a very popular episode and a great way to re-launch Grab A Stack of Rock list shows. (You can even see a remnant of the ill-advised “heels era” in Harrison’s art if you look closely!) Most importantly, this episode showcases a whole bunch of bands that you really need to check out.
Thanks Jex Rambo Russell for a terrific Canada Day celebration. We wanted to list 11 Canadian bands that we thought you should know. I think we did a sweet job of it, with plenty of really cool “Show & Tell” on vinyl, cassette and CD. Loads of rarities and obscurities here to check out, and a music video as well.
HAPPY CANADA DAY! Below you’ll also see a graph of the cities from which the listed bands originated. Hamilton won handily! Check out the show and see who, what, and where!
Tuesday July 1 at 1:00 PM EST, 2:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube. You can click the graphic below to jump to YouTube.
My talented friend and co-host Harrison Kopp has spent the last several months not just working on 50 Years of Iron Maiden, but also his own original animated Lego horror story called Going Ape. Entirely built, animated and scored by Harrison, his first completed Lego animation is 100% his own original work. He felt that for his debut short film, it should be him doing all the creative work. He was obviously right, because it turns out young Harrison is not bad at music either.
The top secret lab setting of Going Ape gives it an impending apocalyptic feel. Just another day at the office? Not this time as things gradually go awry at the San Jacinto Research Laboratory. Not even the solid brick-built walls of the lab can protect the hapless scientists tonight.
Please enjoy Harrison’s first completed animated short, Going Ape. Grab some popcorn!
50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode:
Collections! Stories! Maiden on Vinyl, Bottlecaps & More!
With special guest Aaron “Mr. Books” KMA and Jex Russell
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode
Originally run: June 16 2023. Now edited with new content.
This special bonus episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden may be an old show from 2023, but most Maiden viewers never saw it, so I re-edited it and we’re running it again! This episode was a special fun one that we did with Aaron “Mr. Books” KMA, showing off parts of our Maiden collections.
Aaron, being Mr. Books, had one of Bruce Dickinson’s novels on hand. He also had a near-mint collection of Trooper beer bottle caps, and a rare Iron Maiden menu from Toronto. Harrison tended to focus on CDs. He had some rare bootlegs, including a DVD. For myself, I was eager to show off my Maiden vinyl collection at the time, including coloured vinyl, picture discs, some sealed records, and much more. Early on, Jex Russell showed up just to crash the party!
Speaking of books, we also took a look (for the very first time) at a Maiden book that features Mike himself. Chances are, you’ve never seen this book before. You definitely have never seen it on 50 Years of Iron Maiden before.
This was the infamous night that Jen had a seizure, fell, and almost broke her jaw. I’ve edited most of that stuff out but some remnants remain.
Friday June 27 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy onYouTube.
Are you ready to level up in your photography or drone flying game? The brand new Ruko U11MINI 4K is the drone for you. Best of all, it weighs under 249 grams, which means you don’t need a license to fly it. Just open the package, read the manual, charge the batteries and launch.
Opening the box, I was delighted to find not one, but two paper manuals! The full User Manual, and a Quick Guide. This is a huge step up from having to read a pdf file on your screen. The inclusion of a paper manual will make all the difference to some users. Also included are two batteries (roughly 32 minutes flight time each) and all the USB cables needed to charge and fly, no matter what kind of phone you use. The controller is sleek and features two comfortable and detachable control sticks. It comes in a handsome and sturdy carrying case for storage and transport. It also has a plastic camera cover to protect the 4K camera (EIS with gimbal, like a 3-axis brushless gimbal with EIS). You will be able to capture 8K pictures and 4K@30fps video. All you need to provide yourself is a smartphone and a micro SD card to record all that lovely video you’re going to get. And don’t forget to download the appropriate app to your device!
An important step is to make sure your phone is set for USB file transfer mode. Google the steps for your phone to do this. Your phone mounts sturdily to the controller, and connects via the included USB-C cable. You can transfer photos and videos straight to your phone. When powering on and pairing, be sure to calibrate the GPS and gyroscope. Give it time for the GPS to lock on.
With this powerful camera at hand, you can record hi-definition video or photos at the touch of a button. Thanks to the camera’s clever gimbal, it will always take level photos no matter the wind conditions. No need to straighten and crop videos or photos with this drone. It can even record audio!
For what I have been used to, this drone is far more powerful, and I am not talking about the camera. The motors are faster and can go way further: 394 feet altitude, which is double what I’ve flown before. Without obstructions, it can transmit a signal up to 20,000 feet distance. I will be able to fly further, and see clearer, than ever before! There is even a 5x digital zoom available. It is far faster than my old drone, so be careful with your velocity!
With the app on your phone, you will unlock a multitude of features for this drone. GPS follow, and path planning are two such features. Auto return and setting your own custom maximum altitude and distance will help keep your drone safe as you learn. You can also have it return to a safe home point when the battery is low. You can even program a path with up to 16 checkpoints. Feeling uncertain about landings? This drone has an AI takeoff and landing system (using GPS, barometric altitude hold, optical flow, and TOF positioning) for smooth takeoffs and landings. Like all drones, one must be careful in heavy wind. Due to unseasonable bad weather here in Canada, I have not had many great days to fly safely in the spring of 2025. As I fly the drone and experiment with its abilities, I will add more videos to this space. Bookmark it and check back for more videos.
Some tips:
1. Keep the drone in sight when flying to avoid getting lost.
2. Don’t fly too close to the surface, to water, or to trees.
3. Use a large open area to fly in, with good GPS reception.
People are loving my drone footage from the Ruko U11MINI 4K! From Owen:
“You’ve really got me considering purchasing this drone, Mike. I love your footage in both videos, it’s under 249g. Beautiful shots, Mr. Ladano.”
Take it from me, you’re going to love the Ruko U11MINI 4K drone.
50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 15:Â Fear of the Dark
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #105
In the spring of 1992, Iron Maiden returned with new music, less than two years since No Prayer for the Dying. Album #2 for Janick Gers, and final album (for a long time) with Bruce Dickinson. It was also the final production before retiring for longtime Maiden compatriot, Martin “Black Knight” Birch. An historic album, significant in the discography, but of mixed reception. We tackle Maiden’s direction(s) on this album, the first of the “grunge era” which found bands like Iron Maiden with diminishing sales. We also had to address the new artwork by Melvyn Grant, the first Maiden album cover without Derek Riggs.
Eeeeewhhh-ZACH! Maiden began to explore current events in their lyrics, along with some different musical directions, from ballads to Zeppelin-like dirges.  Were they chasing trends? Harrison makes some arguments for this, while Mike bluntly states what he likes and does not like about each of the 12 album tracks.
There are more than just the 12 album tracks to discuss: a variety of B-sides are included, such as covers of Montrose, Budgie and Chuck Berry songs. There are comedic novelty songs (plural!) for fans only, and there are live tracks, plus one rare remix. We tackle all of them.
As usual, Harrison discusses the tour, and how many of the songs were actually played live. You can count on us to give you a complete picture of every era of Iron Maiden, and Fear of the Dark is one that makes for good deconstructing. You can also count on our honesty, and Fear of the Dark is an album that divides fans…again.
Tell us what you think tonight on 50 Years of Iron Maiden.
Friday June 20 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy on YouTube.
BONUS! We also unboxed Martin Popoff’s new book HALLOWED BY THEIR NAME: THE UNOFFICIAL IRON MAIDEN BIBLE in a bonus episode earlier this week!
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