A sharp looking Brian Vollmer was accompanied by new Helix guitarist Greg Fraser (Brighton Rock) in a Slayer shirt for this acoustic performance! The show was Start Me Up on Saturday afternoon, and Natalie Richard was the host. It’s A Business Doing Pleasure was the new album, and it was a slightly more acoustic affair for the band.
Topics discussed:
Inspiration for writing the new songs, and working with Marc Ribler.
Special guests on the new album.
Sleepin’ in the doghouse again!
Doing an album after losing Paul Hackman.
Touring the new album.
A stunning acoustic version of “Tug of War” from the new album (and the only performance available with Frase on guitar).
Brian’s morning routine (which he still maintains today).
The super-8 videos used in “That Day Is Gonna Come”, and what inspired the song.
The very first platinum album that MuchMusic received – Walkin’ the Razor’s Edge by Helix!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 62: The Battle of ’84: Iron Maiden – Powerslave vs. Judas Priest – Defenders of the Faith
It is finally time: the Battle of ’84 has arrived! 40 years ago, two metal monsters released crucial albums:
Judas Priest – Defenders of the Faith – 13 January 1984 – peaked at #18 in the US and went platinum.
Iron Maiden – Powerslave – 3 Sept 1984 – peaked at #21 in the US and went platinum.
But which album, track for track, is better?
Tonight, Peter Jones and I will attempt to answer that question. After appearing once with Pete on a favourite episode of Rock Daydream Nation, he finally joins Grab A Stack of Rock. Peter is a musician, who understands the vocabulary of drums and will explain it all tonight. (Check out his latest Contrarians episode with Martin Popoff!) Will the drumming colour his impressions of these two landmark albums of the 80s? We shall see tonight.
We shall dissect each and every track, including the bonus tracks & B-sides. Who shall reign? Find out tonight…live!
Friday June 7 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or onFacebook!
This is likely the last evening show of the summer of 2024. Afternoon shows occur at 3:00 PM on Fridays, when I have an available co-host. Thanks for watching, and stay tuned…
The next show is an interview with author Angie Moon, regarding her debut music/true time book, Crime of the Century, June 21 on Grab A Stack of Rock!
I need to remember for fortunate I am. Some time in 2023, I was approached by an Australian man named Peter Kerr to do a show on the Vinnie Vincent Invasion for his channel, Rock Daydream Nation. He had seen me around on social media, and we hit it off immediately. Meeting Peter has led to some of the best shows I’ve done, including a couple on Grab A Stack of Rock. This week on Rock Daydream Nation, Peter and I went back to one of our core deep love bands: the Purples. Deep Purple Mk III in fact, and the sometimes maligned Stormbringer LP.
As per the deep dive format, we begin with first impressions. Mine begin with a cheap cassette copy bought at Encore Records in Kitchener Ontario. We then go track by track through the whole album, side A and side B. By the time we offer our final thoughts, it is plenty obvious that we love Stormbringer. Blackmore may have disliked the funk, but we like when he plays funky. We touch on Rainbow, Whitesnake and much more.
We drive into some Deep Purple history here, so grab a coffee and enjoy this deep dive!
A big thank you to Metal Roger for the topic, and thanks to John Clauser for an awesome show! The topic tonight was Roger’s: Top five albums after a long gap between. There was no crossover on any of our lists. I went mostly mainstream with my bands. Clauser surprised us with a lot of bands I didn’t know, but were popular in the comments. A nice Steve Augeri band too! Metal Roger did industrial, metal, and beardliness.
My list is below, and included two Japanese imports and a couple of special editions with DVDs.
At the end of the day, the mighty Harrison Kopp the Mad Metal Man himself turned up with a list of his own, which surprisingly lacked any Blaze Bayley. A huge thanks to Harrison for coming on last night.
Tune in next week for the Battle of ’84 with Pete Jones: Defenders of the Faith vs. Powerslave!
I cheated.
TIE
KISS – Sonic Boom (2009) – 11 year gap from 1998’s Psycho-Circus
Van Halen – A Different Kind of Truth (2012) – 14 year gap from 1998’s Van Halen III (8 year gap from 2004’s Best of Both Worlds)
Faith No More – Sol Invictus (2015) – 18 year gap from 1997’s Album of the Year
Deep Purple – Perfect Strangers (1984) – 9 year gap from 1975’s Come Taste the Band
Styx – The Mission (2018) – 15 year gap from 2003’s Cyclorama (13 year gap from 2005’s Big Bang Theory)
Extreme – Six (2023) – 15 year gap from 2008’s Saudades de Rock
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 61: Top Five Albums After a Long Gap, with Metal Roger and John Clauser
‘Twas Metal Roger who suggested this week’s topic. What are our Top Five Albums after a Long Gap? Well, Chinese Democracy is an obvious example, but there are many more, ecpecially from the last decade or two. It took 24 years for The Who to release a new album (Endless Wire) and then another 13 years to release the followup Who. For the sake of this exercise, we are arbitrarily saying at minimum, at least a five year wait to qualify an album for this list.
Joining us will be Johnny Clauser from My Music Corner, which is doubly good since Roger has no physical product to show off for his picks! (Come on, Roger!) I have eight picks and have to narrow it down to five, which I will probably do at the last minute.
This will also be John and Roger’s first shows at the cottage. We hope for clear weather and chipmunks! Join us live in the comments. We love to talk to the audience!
Friday May 31 at 8:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 9:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or onFacebook!
Last summer was different. I felt like I had something to prove. I lost the co-host that was responsible for the lion’s share of my views, and I wanted to pivot back to music. Grab A Stack of Rock was envisioned as an “easy” show, where I didn’t have to do any prep or homework. I was ready to work hard again and I think we did that. We brought back lists and deep dives and the show was so much better for it.
This year is a little different in another way, which is my old co-hosts are occupied. Harrison is busy focusing on his health. Other co-hosts have their own shows now. Others still are focusing on family. I can’t blame them for that. In a way, my show has been a bit like the Alice Cooper backing band. Just as he launched the careers of Kip Winger and many more, my show has launched others into the Youtube-sphere. That show out of Thunder Bay Ontario wouldn’t exist without my rocket boosters. With that in mind, I think this summer will be something of a slowdown.
This week we’re back at the cottage with John Clauser and Metal Roger. It’ll be their first cottage show.
What will the summer bring? Fewer shows perhaps, but Grab A Stack of Rock will still continue, perhaps with a few different faces that we didn’t have last summer. Some familiar ones as well. Grant from the Rock Warehaus wants to hang out on the front porch again this summer. I’m also thinking of doing a midnight outdoors show. We’ll see what the summer has in store, but one thing I don’t need to do is prove anything to anyone. We did that last year and we’re better off for it.
Park Avenue leads to…SKID ROW! But Skid Row leads to Grant’s Rock Warehaus!
This week on Grant’s Rock Warehaus, we talk about a band that Grant has been digging seriously for the last several weeks, ever since seeing former singer Sebastian Bach on an 80’s cruise. We don’t talk just Bach. We tackle the Johnny Solinger years, the unfortunate tale of Erik Grönwall’s short stint, and of course, current lead singer Lzzy Hale. Take a look at my Skid Row collection, including The Atlantic Years box set (unboxing!), my original 1991 vinyl of Slave to the Grind, my Japanese Best of Skid Row, and a rare promo single from 1995.
Grant and I tried to cover as much ground as possible. Album artwork is discussed, and a few underdog records are praised. I tried to highlight what I think are some incredible and underrated ballads that might be forgotten in the shadow of “I Remember You”. We shone a light on the talent of all the members, and questioned what they could have done differently through their career. Leading to the present day, we have some suggestions for Skid Row about their future and reissues we want to see happen.
It’s all here, on Grant’s Rock Warehaus with your host, Grant Arthur!
It has been a hell of a week. There’s an untold story here; one that I have elected not to tell. Let’s just say I’m out a lot of money, and other setbacks have caused me to take a step back from social media for a few days. Just too much going on for me to deal with in a calm and cool manner. Better to retreat into the shadows a bit.
As always, the Show Must Go On, and so I was determined to do my best on Friday May 17’s Arkells special on Grab A Stack of Rock. It was the first show I’d done without a co-host (just a special guest) in a long while. I felt unprepared despite a whole week of listening. Things came together at the last minute, and all I needed was the new Arkells album, Disco Loadout Volume One, for the show to go right. I planned to spend the afternoon listening to the CD and hoped to open up the autographed clear splatter vinyl live on the show.
The thing about going live is that it’s a double-edged sword. The plus is you get the rush of live viewer feedback, and that sparks the show to be so much more exciting. The negative is that when things go wrong, there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s live for you.
My record was supposed to arrive on May 15. It didn’t. May 16 came and went. Surely, it would be in my mailbox by May 17, the release date. It had to be.
I arrived home from work early on Friday. I raced with my heart pounding to the mailbox. “It’ll be in there,” I reasoned to myself. “Why wouldn’t it be? It has to be.”
It wasn’t.
Furious, I went right to my computer and called up the tracking.
“Good news!” said Canada Post. “Your parcel was delivered to your locked condo mailbox on May 16!”
Umm, no it wasn’t! I picked up the phone. I searched for a phone number. Do you know how hard it is to call Canada Post on the phone and get a human being on the phone? I was completely unsuccessful.
I went ’round and ’round on phone menus for half an hour. I called my local post office, only to go to voicemail after an agonisingly long wait. I swore up and down, and let out a primal yell that would have frightened the upstairs neighbour, had he been home.
I called Encore Records, and fortunately they had CD copies of the album in stock. I ran downtown, grabbed the album from them (and a few other discs as well). I was greeted there by old pal Chris, and I want to thank Encore for saving the day. Once home, I immediately played the album once-and-a-half times, and began my show prep. (I also picked up three other discs – a 4 CD Faster Pussycast set, the new Beatles single “Now and Then“, and the new Ace Frehley 10,000 Volts.)
I wouldn’t be able to open the signed splatter vinyl live on the show, but I filed a report with Canada Post. It was all I could do. There were no other options available. Showing a CD copy wouldn’t be as exciting, but at least I had it in hand and could read the credits while listening.
The show went incredibly well; far better than I expected. This was due to special guest Nurse Kat and her enthusiasm, and to some excellent notes from D’Arcy Briggs. I’m really happy and proud of the show we did together. I’d never attempted to do a show on a new album, on the day of release before. We were treading new ground in multiple ways, and while it almost didn’t work, it ended up being one of the best shows to date. The passion for the music came through.
Two days later, there was a knock on the door. A tall gentleman from down the hall had a parcel for me. It had been delivered to his unit.
How this happened, I’ll never understand but someone at Canada Post wrote the number “103” on the parcel. Even though my correct unit number was written clearly on the parcel where the address was, this scribbled “103” put my parcel in the tall man’s mailbox. Fortunately he is one of the good ones, and not all of them are. Just this week, an upstairs neighbour had an expensive Amazon parcel opened and stolen. It’s not a good feeling to have mail thieves in our building, but I have been victim twice before. I’m glad this wasn’t the third time.
Even though I didn’t get to unbox it live, Peter Kerr from Rock Daydream Nation was kind enough to join me for a quick look at a beautiful record. It looks as great as it sounds.
And so the week of stress comes to a happy ending. The other bit of good news is that the social media hiatus was a good idea. I went on a writing bender like never before. Expect loads of reviews this spring and summer.
Thank you to the guy down the hall, to Peter Kerr, to D’Arcy Briggs, and to Nurse Kat for turning this potential disaster story into one of triumph!
Thank you once again Nurse Kat for coming on Grab A Stack of Rock to talk about a band we both love: Hamilton Ontario’s Arkells. It isn’t her first time, as last year we did a show focusing largely on her 13 concert experiences (now 20). Check out Nurse Kat’s first show by clicking here!
This time, we did a deep dive. We went album by album, from Jackson Square to today: the brand new release, Disco Loadout Volume One. If I do say so myself, I think this is the most comprehensive Arkells deep dive you will find.
My friend D’Arcy Briggs was unable to attend the show, but he provided ample notes and we presented his views on each album in the form of short videos. Additionally, we ran excerpts with commentary of three Arkells music videos: “Oh, the Boss is Coming”, “All Roads”, and “Past Life”, which allow us to view the evolution of the band.
Show highlights:
Concert stories with Kat, including a brilliant one about a port-a-potty in a rainstorm whilst the band played “A Little Rain”.
Favourite songs from each and every album.
A discussion on the music, artwork, and lyrics of the Arkells.
What is a “Michigan Left”?
First impressions on Disco Loadout.
A heartwarming Kopp cameo.
That’s right. The Mad Metal Man himself, who also ordered Disco Loadout, made a brief cameo at the end of our show, and we love him for it. I missed my Mad Metal Man.
Thank yous:
Nurse Kat for spending your time with us instead of Bob’s Burgers.
Harrison Kopp for saying hello.
Chris and Mark at Encore Records for saving the day and getting me the new album when Canada Post lost it.
Next week is a re-run of Top Five Bald Artists. Speaking of which, I may look a little different this week. Spot the change!
My notes:
Jackson Square – 2008
Deadlines – heaviest tune?
Oh the Boss is Coing!
Ballad of Hugo Chavez – “Night of the sun”
Heart of the City – anthemic
The Blueprint – sounds awesome a-capella
Michigan Left – 2011
Book Club
Michigan Left
Coffee
Bloodlines
Whistleblower
High Noon – 2014
Too many good songs to mention, but has the best first three song opening of any Arkells album. Add in Leather Jacket and we have a winner
Morning Report – 2016
Too many good songs! Knocking at the Door, Hung Up, Making Due, My Heart’s Always Yours, Savannah, Passenger Seat, A Little Rain, And Then Some
Rally Cry – 2018 – sudden change in cover art style, more political than personal lyrics
Hand Me Downs, but the version with Frank Turner is even better
American Screams
Campfire Chords – 2020
Three new songs: Years In The Making, Quitting You, A Little More
Blink Once – 2021
All Roads
Strong
Nobody Gets Me Like You Do
Years In The Making
Arm In Arm
Blink Twice – 2022
Past Life (Cold War Kids)
Teenage Tears (Tegan & Sara)
Nowhere To Go w/ Wesley Schultz (Lumineers) & Jake Clemons
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