Like many, I first became awestruck by John Sykes via Whitesnake. The year was 1987, and Much had just started playing Whitesnake stuff in heavy rotation. While I heard Sykes on all the big 1987 hits, I saw Sykes in the music video for “Slow An’ Easy”. The guy had it all! Long flowing blonde curly locks, shirt open, a slide guitar (which I loved), a really cool studded guitar strap, and a way to play a riff. To paraphrase a movie, I began watching his career with great interest.
I got some Whitesnake. I got some Tygers of Pan Tang. I bought the Blue Murder. And then I discovered Thin Lizzy. While it’s no secret that I’m not much of a Blue Murder fan (though I loved the idea on paper), I really dug John’s work with Thin Lizzy.
“Cold Sweat” was the name of the track, and I squealed in delight when John’s guitar squealed in the riff! Even better was a song called “Bad Habits”. This one merged the old-tyme style of Jailbreak with the production and guitar shred of 1982.
Though he hadn’t released any new music in a spell…we’re all going to miss John Sykes.
Bob Schipper was the instigator. He was always the one with the creative ideas. From making our own spiked wristbands from juice tins and black electrical tape, to sketching our own original video games, he was usually the one with the kernel for the idea. I provided the energy, and was able to spin his ideas off and expand them into entire universes. On this day in question though, Bob had the idea that we could make our own tie dye T-shirts.
I don’t know where he got the idea. Probably someone from school. There was one hippy kid in his grade that I would later work with at the grocery store. Massive Grateful Dead fan. The idea probably came from him.
In our world, tie dye wasn’t big. Metal bands rarely wore the stuff, and we didn’t go back to Zeppelin. Our horizons were much more recent. In my world, wrestlers like Superstar Billy Graham were my inspiration. He was known for his tie dye, and he looked incredibly cool.
We were not able to make tie dye as fancy as Superstar’s. We were only able to mix a couple colours. Our methods were simple. We went to the local Zeller’s store, bought a few colours of fabric dye, and four of the cheapest, plain white T-shirts we could find. Then, we would walk home and set up in my mom’s basement. With no regard for other people’s clothes or the mess we were making, we dumped the dye into the big basement sink, and mixed it up. Then, we carefully twisted the shirts up, trying to create a spiral effect. Once satisfied, we fastened everything with elastic bands, and dipped the shirts spiral-side down into the dye. We repeated the process with another colour, and let everything dry. Of our shirt experiments, maybe one out of every two attempts turned out.
The dye started to wash out after two washes. The shirts wore thin and ripped easily. One evening, Bob and I were wrestling in the park, when he grabbed and lifted me, and my favourite tie dye shirt ripped. I had no choice but to finish the job. “Rip it off like Hogan!” encouraged Bob. With a roar, and a lot of effort, I ripped the shirt off my body and threw it to the ground. “Raaaah!!”
Meanwhile at home, Mom was trying to get splashes of dye off of every surface in the basement. She was absolutely furious with us. No wonder Bob wasn’t allowed to do stuff like this at his house!
I have made my debut on Sea of Tranquility! Thank you to Jamie Laszlo for inviting me. The Review Crew topic is Albums from 1990. 35 years ago!
I am taking a big, big chance with my first time on S.O.T. I’m reviewing an artist they normally wouldn’t touch. I’m going for it because it’s a topic I can discuss confidently and passionately. It’s also a concept album. It’s Jon Bon Jovi’s Blaze of Glory, today on the Review Crew. It was nerve wracking bringing such an album to this channel, but I stuck to my guns, spoke passionately, and I think it shows.
A personal highlight was having the chance to converse face to face with Phil Aston regarding his pick, Deep Purple’s Slaves and Masters.
A post-show chat with Johnny Metal was in order after our great Iron Maiden (1980) episode on 50 Years of Iron Maiden. In this special chat, Johnny and I discuss some addition Iron Maiden content not covered in the actual episode, such as an album with Dennis Stratton (Lionheart) and some compilations with almost every Maiden member pre-Killers. (Even the keyboard player!)
I also unboxed a very cool, very rare CD from Mike Slayen. Check this out! A true rarity.
Finally, one reason I wanted to do this post-show chat was that I needed to be social last night. My 100 year old Grandma is sick again, and I was having such anxiety during the day, that I thought it would do me some good to tell some Grandma stories with Johnny Metal. I hope you find these as heartfelt and amusing as I do.
50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 2: Iron Maiden (1980) and “Women In Uniform”
With John Clauser (My Music Corner)
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #86
Welcome to the big leagues, as Iron Maiden are signed to EMI and release their first singles and album! New members Clive Burr and Dennis Stratton are now on board with Steve Harris, Dave Murray, and Paul Di’Anno. We cover it all on this second episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden.
Joining Harrison and I is John Clauser from My Music Corner! We bid you welcome to this special pre-recorded look at Iron Maiden’s self titled debut album. Because we always aim to go in depth as possible, we’ll discuss the entire album track by track, the artwork, and all the singles and B-sides. As an added bonus, we’ll also take a look at the standalone single “Women In Uniform”, a Skyhooks cover that the band have somewhat disowned.
A new feature to the series debuts tonight as well: Harrison Kopp will take the spotlight every time we talk about a studio album, to go over the tour in detail. Harrison will provide the facts, the figures, and the dates, while also analysing the setlists. This segment is a highlight of the show.
This episode premieres at 7 o’clock PM exclusively on YouTube. (Sorry Facebook – we are trying some new things with this Maiden series. The live episodes will still be streamed to Facebook, but not these recorded ones.)
One of us will try to be in the comments tonight, so if you want to take part in a discussion, please don’t miss the premiere!
This is a topic for which I’m no expert, but others on the panel will be. Martin sure knows his NWOBHM! Guaranteed, we will see some cool heavy metal album covers tonight on the Contrarians. Looking forward to it.
Don’t we all just miss the days when a major artist would just casually toss out a new EP between albums like this? Following the Surfing With the Alien tour, Joe released a brand new song called “The Crush of Love” with three recent live tracks. It went gold and hit the top 50 on Billboard. You didn’t have to worry about pre-ordering it, and there was no “late tax” if you missed buying it right away. That’s the way an EP by a major artist should be.
“The Crush of Love” is a magnificent track, with a overarching wah-wah hook that makes up the body of the song. The rhythm section is Stu Hamm and Jonathan Mover on all tracks. Hamm’s chunky bass is like that moment when you hit a big chunk of fudge in the middle of your ice cream. Mover is the punctuation, while Joe indulges his melodic side with some wonderful lead. In a Satriani composition, the lead guitar often takes the place of where the singer would normally deliver the hooks. That’s “The Crush of Love” in a nutshell. It’s more like Surfing material, rather than the Flying In A Blue Dream sound that Joe would explore 18 months later.
Onto the live tracks, all recorded by the King Biscuit Flower Hour in San Diego, June 11 1988.
“Ice Nine” from Surfing begins with Joe introducing his band, a symbol of their importance. Then humbly he adds, “Thank you all for coming. My name’s Joe.” Onto the thumping “Ice Nine”, which Stu Hamm turns into a bass showcase for impressive fingerwork without overplaying. Mover perfectly complements him, nailing the moments the drums need to add some explosions, without being too showy. Meanwhile, Satriani’s causing explosions of his own, but it always comes back to song’s main melody. Yes, Joe plays the crap out of this song, but it is indeed a song.
Joe takes us back to his debut album Not Of This Earth (which was reissued in 1988 with similar cover art to Dreaming #11) for the last two tracks. The lengthy “Memories” opens with a guitar exploration, but quickly turns into a catchy little running guitar melody. It’s an aggressive number and one of Joe’s more challenging to the uninitiated. As always, Hamm’s playing his mindblowing and catchy.
Finally, “Hordes of Locusts” has a slower grinding groove that ends the EP on an ominous musical note. Mover and Hamm largely stick to the groove while Joe shreds and strafes.
At over 23 minutes of exclusive music, this EP was well worth the value. No wonder it went gold.
RECORD STORE TALES #1174: Big Feelings & Why I’m Upset With the Arkells
I bought my first Arkells album High Noon back in 2017, but I really fell hard for the band in 2023. The Canadian pop rock quintet hadn’t put out any songs I disliked, but in 2023 a combination of personal drama and a need for Canadian tunes led me to dive into the band all the way. It was May, and in less than a year I had acquired all the albums. That is a short period of time to absorb so much new music, but I did, and I loved virtually all of it. There are actually few bands I love as much as the Arkells, and only a handful that I fell for so quickly.
I love their lyrics, from everyman tales of not being able to pay the rent, to social discourse and critique. Singer Max Kerman was a Poli-Sci major, and also has his finger on the pulse of the youth. This results in some pretty cool lyrics. As for the band, their musicianship is top notch. Drummer Tim Oxford is in my top Canadian drummers of all time, and you know that’s an elite list. I’m also a big fan of bassist Nick Dika, who always has deep tones and fabulous bass melodies.
Shortly after I went all-in, the band released a new album called Laundry Pile, an acoustic affair with melancholy feelings. A bit of a slow burner, but a brilliant album. This was followed by the 2024 all-covers LP, Disco Loadout. I enthusiastically went bonkers for it, and got it on CD and signed vinyl. Their eclectic set of tunes, from Abba to Whitney interpreted by the rock band, satisfied deeply. They threw in a couple rock tunes by Springsteen and Hall & Oates, and I just liked the whole album. Could I fall in love any more with the Arkells?
Full stop to the summer of 2024. So soon after the Disco Loadout album, Arkells announced the release of a new single called “Big Feelings”. “It came together quickly,” said the band. “It started with a bold drum loop that Tim made, and was quickly arranged when the band assembled for a session in February.”
A few weeks after Aaron and I visited Sonic Boom records in Toronto, the Arkells announced an appearance at the store. They brought with them 150 copies of “Big Feelings” on 180g clear vinyl, hand cut by Red Spade Records in Calgary, Alberta.
150 copies were all that were made. And they sold out that day. No copies have ever shown up on Discogs.
And this is why I’m upset with the Arkells. I had just been to Sonic Boom a few weeks earlier, and there was no way I could make it down for that store release. Trying to get there early enough to get one of the 150 copies…being in a crowd like that…no, no thanks.
I guess you could say, “Why are you upset, Mike? It’s on you that you didn’t go.”
Sure, that’s true. However, I think I’m on record for despising these kinds of releases that I’ll never get my hands on physically. Maybe I’m not mad at the band; maybe I’m mad at the practice. However it is the band that I have taken it out on. “Big Feelings” remains the only Arkells song I don’t have, because I refused to buy it on iTunes. I haven’t even put a “like” on the music video. Oh sure, I’ll probably give in eventually. It just really bugs me that a band of Arkells’ stature, with thousands of fans who value physical media, would only release 150 copies in such an exclusive way. Some might see that as indi-cool. I don’t. Arkells aren’t some garage band. They have fans, and I feel a real disservice by this release.
Derek Kortepeter is a talented musician from California, and long-time friend and reader of this site. I have reviewed his albums numerous times, and he has collaborated with me in a writing capacity as well. Sadly, now Derek needs help.
As you know, California is being wracked by uncontrolled wildfires. Derek and his family have lost their home and almost all their possessions. Like many in California, he is now staying on safe group but the damage done will last a lifetime.
Please read Derek’s family’s story and consider giving something, anything at all.
mikeladano.com 