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: 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!
50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: Unboxing Martin Popoff’s Hallowed By Their Name: The Unofficial Iron Maiden Bible
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode
Welcome to a special “teaser” episode! At long last, Martin Popoff’s Unofficial Iron Maiden Bible, called Hallowed By Their Name, has arrived at Grab A Stack HQ! Check out this monstrosity in the bonus video below.
This is a gorgeous book, and heavy as the metal it represents. Looking much like an actual hardcover bible, this book covers the entire 50 year history of the band, with loads of full colour pictures and 666 fully loaded pages.
Check out the unboxing video and let’s look forward to talking to Martin about this incredible book in the future.
After a couple weeks off, I’m back on the Contrarians live show tonight to talk about…what, exactly?
The idea here is to find 10 albums covers that send the wrong message musically. Maybe it’s a heavy album that looks too soft, or vice-versa. Maybe it’s a studio album that looks like a compilation. Perhaps it’s a record that looks like it’s from another genre. Join the usual suspects tonight to have a look at our picks!
THE CONTRARIANS – Huh?!? Album Covers that Send the Wrong Message – Wednesday June 18 – 7:00 PM EST
Welcome to The Sequel To Success! In this series we will be looking at the album that came after a huge album for an artist and discuss whether the follow up was a success or failure both artistically and commercially. Today Mike Ladano from Grab A Stack Of Rock joins me to discuss Clutching At Straws by neo-prog legends Marillion. This was the follow up to their platinum selling (in the U.K.) album Misplaced Childhood which had also produced the hit singles Kayleigh and Lavender. We go through the album track by track, analyse where it succeeds (and maybe where it doesn’t) and discuss what came after (in this case, quite a lot!).
mikeladano.com 