Peter Kerr

Rock Daydream Nation: Why I Prefer 80s Rush – Signals & Hold Your Fire

Join Peter Kerr and myself, two self-confessed fans of 80s Rush, as we discuss Signals and Hold Your Fire.  This fun and insightful episode of Rock Daydream Nation shines an admiring light upon two albums that bookend an era of keyboard-oriented Rush records.

This era of Rush has sometimes been criticized for highlighting synth and keyboards over riffs.  While there is always some truth to this, does that mean a decline in quality?  Not necessarily.  It might just mean bands are becoming interested in different kinds of rock music.

Peter and I pick a number of songs to highlight, and play music clips to illustrate our examples.  Check out the show!

The Contrarians Live: Turn It Down! Album Covers You Can Hear!

We have a busy week here at Grab A Stack of Rock HQ, and it all starts tonight with my 25th appearance on the Contrarians!

From the mind of Martin comes “You Can Hear This Cover!”  Album covers that feel like you can actually hear what’s going on.  There are a variety of albums from many genres that you will hear all about on tonight’s live show.

Then tomorrow, John Snow and I have an epic interview to record, that we can’t tell you about…

Friday we’re going live with 50 Years of Iron Maiden…from the cottage!

And Saturday we’re recording with Tim’s Vinyl Confessions!

It all starts tonight.  Don’t miss any of it!

THE CONTRARIANS – Turn It Down! Album Covers You Can Hear! – Wednesday May 21 –  7:00 PM EST

My Contrarians appearances to date:

  1. Nicknamed Album Covers
  2. Minimalist cover art
  3. Brown album covers
  4. Yellow album covers
  5. Albums with Fire and Explosions
  6. Spaceships! Aliens! Robots!
  7. This Album Cover is Hell!
  8. Toys & Games
  9. Dreaming in Stereo:  Beds & Sleep on album covers
  10. Favourite Bands…WORST Album Covers
  11. They Swapped Covers!
  12. Great Album Covers From Bands We Despise
  13. Top 10 NWOBHM Covers
  14. It’s A Piece of Art!
  15. Compilation Kaos!
  16. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hipgnosis!
  17. Amped Up!
  18. Packaging Fails
  19. Where’s the Band?
  20. Slippery When Wet
  21. Greetings From New York
  22. Done With Mirrors
  23. Eyes Without A Face
  24. Rock Out With Your Clock Out!
  25. Album Covers You Can Hear
  26. Album Covers You Can Smell

No Contrarians Live tonight

G’day,

No show tonight, as Martin is off and the rest of us need a break.

Having these shows on Wednesdays all winter really did me a lot of good.  It gave me something to look forward to in the middle of the week during the cold dark months.  Now that summer is arriving, I cannot say what my involvement will be in the future.  We haven’t discussed a topic for next week yet, and there is the question of how many more album cover topics there are, that are both interesting and allow for a large panel.  We’re also losing a couple cast members for the coming weeks, as John Clauser is on hiatus and another is taking a break.

Stay tuned… we’ll see what next week brings!  In the meantime, why not check out one of these cool subjects below?

 

My Contrarians appearances to date:

  1. Nicknamed Album Covers
  2. Minimalist cover art
  3. Brown album covers
  4. Yellow album covers
  5. Albums with Fire and Explosions
  6. Spaceships! Aliens! Robots!
  7. This Album Cover is Hell!
  8. Toys & Games
  9. Dreaming in Stereo:  Beds & Sleep on album covers
  10. Favourite Bands…WORST Album Covers
  11. They Swapped Covers!
  12. Great Album Covers From Bands We Despise
  13. Top 10 NWOBHM Covers
  14. It’s A Piece of Art!
  15. Compilation Kaos!
  16. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hipgnosis!
  17. Amped Up!
  18. Packaging Fails
  19. Where’s the Band?
  20. Slippery When Wet
  21. Greetings From New York
  22. Done With Mirrors
  23. Eyes Without A Face
  24. Rock Out With Your Clock Out!

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 11: Somewhere In Time with Peter Kerr

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 11:  Somewhere In Time

With special guest Peter Kerr

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #101

Exit Pharaohs…enter synth!?

Please welcome Peter Kerr from Rock Daydream Nation to this epic episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden.  Now that we are done with the 100th Episode festivities, we can get back to celebrating the 50th anniversary of Iron Maiden.  After the lengthy Powerslave tour and resultant live album Live After Death, one member of Iron Maiden was completely burned out.  The new album would be the first since The Number of the Beast to lack a Bruce Dickinson writing credit.

Not that this major detail held anything back.  Bruce’s singing was still lung-burstingly powerful, and the band were writing amazing songs…this time with guitar and bass synthesizer.  It was a controversial decision, but our panel was not phased.  Check out what we have to say about all eight tracks, and all four B-sides.

We also take a serious deep dive into the album artwork, without any help from Wikipedia or other sources.

As usual, we close the show with Harrison’s deep dive into the tour (Somewhere On Tour) and setlists.

Scream for us, YouTube, and enjoy this comeback episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden.

 

Airing Friday May 2 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube.

Past episodes:

Handy YouTube Playlist:

The Contrarians Live: Rock Out With Your Clock Out!

What Time Is It?

A fun topic this week with a lot of variation:  album covers featuring timepieces of any kind!  Though a challenge at first, it became easier once I allowed myself to think outside the box a little bit.  Unfortunately Peter Kerr cannot join us this week, and John Clauser is now on a sabbatical, so it will be a smaller group tonight.

I’ll be ready.  What time is it?  7:00 PM EST!

THE CONTRARIANS – Rock Out With Your Clock Out! – Wednesday April 30 –  7:00 PM EST

 

My Contrarians appearances to date:

  1. Nicknamed Album Covers
  2. Minimalist cover art
  3. Brown album covers
  4. Yellow album covers
  5. Albums with Fire and Explosions
  6. Spaceships! Aliens! Robots!
  7. This Album Cover is Hell!
  8. Toys & Games
  9. Dreaming in Stereo:  Beds & Sleep on album covers
  10. Favourite Bands…WORST Album Covers
  11. They Swapped Covers!
  12. Great Album Covers From Bands We Despise
  13. Top 10 NWOBHM Covers
  14. It’s A Piece of Art!
  15. Compilation Kaos!
  16. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hipgnosis!
  17. Amped Up!
  18. Packaging Fails
  19. Where’s the Band?
  20. Slippery When Wet
  21. Greetings From New York
  22. Done With Mirrors
  23. Eyes Without A Face
  24. Rock Out With Your Clock Out!

The Contrarians Live: Eyes Without A Face

RESCHEDULED!

A topic from Martin this week:  Album covers featuring eyes, but not the full face!  This was a fun one to do, and I look forward to seeing what the other guys bring tonight.  My list has a lot of obvious picks, but as usual, Tim beat me to some good ones.  It feels like a race to get your list in every week!

Watch tonight and witness!

THE CONTRARIANS – Eyes Without A Face – Wednesday April 23 –  7:00 PM EST

My Contrarians appearances to date:

  1. Nicknamed Album Covers
  2. Minimalist cover art
  3. Brown album covers
  4. Yellow album covers
  5. Albums with Fire and Explosions
  6. Spaceships! Aliens! Robots!
  7. This Album Cover is Hell!
  8. Toys & Games
  9. Dreaming in Stereo:  Beds & Sleep on album covers
  10. Favourite Bands…WORST Album Covers
  11. They Swapped Covers!
  12. Great Album Covers From Bands We Despise
  13. Top 10 NWOBHM Covers
  14. It’s A Piece of Art!
  15. Compilation Kaos!
  16. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hipgnosis!
  17. Amped Up!
  18. Packaging Fails
  19. Where’s the Band?
  20. Slippery When Wet
  21. Greetings From New York
  22. Done With Mirrors

The Contrarians Live: Eyes Without A Face

UPDATE:  Show is cancelled

 

A topic from Martin this week:  Album covers featuring eyes, but not the full face!  This was a fun one to do, and I look forward to seeing what the other guys bring tonight.  My list has a lot of obvious picks, but as usual, Tim beat me to some good ones.  It feels like a race to get your list in every week!

Watch tonight and witness!

THE CONTRARIANS – Eyes Without A Face – Wednesday April 16 –  7:00 PM EST

 

My Contrarians appearances to date:

  1. Nicknamed Album Covers
  2. Minimalist cover art
  3. Brown album covers
  4. Yellow album covers
  5. Albums with Fire and Explosions
  6. Spaceships! Aliens! Robots!
  7. This Album Cover is Hell!
  8. Toys & Games
  9. Dreaming in Stereo:  Beds & Sleep on album covers
  10. Favourite Bands…WORST Album Covers
  11. They Swapped Covers!
  12. Great Album Covers From Bands We Despise
  13. Top 10 NWOBHM Covers
  14. It’s A Piece of Art!
  15. Compilation Kaos!
  16. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hipgnosis!
  17. Amped Up!
  18. Packaging Fails
  19. Where’s the Band?
  20. Slippery When Wet
  21. Greetings From New York
  22. Done With Mirrors

The Contrarians Live: Done With Mirrors

Tim Durling came up with this topic, a nice simple one!  Album covers with reflections on them.  Could be mirrors, could be polished metal, or water!  Whatever the cover may be, if it has a reflection, it’s fair game for tonight.

Tune in live!

THE CONTRARIANS – Done With Mirrors – Wednesday April 9 –  7:00 PM EST

My Contrarians appearances to date:

  1. Nicknamed Album Covers
  2. Minimalist cover art
  3. Brown album covers
  4. Yellow album covers
  5. Albums with Fire and Explosions
  6. Spaceships! Aliens! Robots!
  7. This Album Cover is Hell!
  8. Toys & Games
  9. Dreaming in Stereo:  Beds & Sleep on album covers
  10. Favourite Bands…WORST Album Covers
  11. They Swapped Covers!
  12. Great Album Covers From Bands We Despise
  13. Top 10 NWOBHM Covers
  14. It’s A Piece of Art!
  15. Compilation Kaos!
  16. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hipgnosis!
  17. Amped Up!
  18. Packaging Fails
  19. Where’s the Band?
  20. Slippery When Wet
  21. Greetings From New York

 

 

Rock Daydream Nation – Slayer: Reign In Blood – One of the greatest Metal albums of all time?

It is my honour to sit in with Peter Kerr to discuss this thrash metal classic that is outside my comfort zone.  We have had some success with similar shows before, such as the one where I became a Prince fan.  With Slayer’s Reign In Blood, I was faced with an album with unprecedented speed and intensity.  How did I fare?  As always, I immersed myself in the album with repeated plays in different settings.

Check out the show below, and face the Angel of Death on Rock Daydream Nation with Peter Kerr and I!

The Contrarians Live: Greetings from New York

From the mind of Martin:  Album covers with that “New York” vibe.  Picturing the city, or just putting out that New York vibe.  One of my picks went so far off the beaten track, you won’t believe it.  Off by about 2000 years.  Any guesses?

Tune in tonight!

THE CONTRARIANS – Greetings from New York – Wednesday April 2 –  7:00 PM EST

My Contrarians appearances to date:

  1. Nicknamed Album Covers
  2. Minimalist cover art
  3. Brown album covers
  4. Yellow album covers
  5. Albums with Fire and Explosions
  6. Spaceships! Aliens! Robots!
  7. This Album Cover is Hell!
  8. Toys & Games
  9. Dreaming in Stereo:  Beds & Sleep on album covers
  10. Favourite Bands…WORST Album Covers
  11. They Swapped Covers!
  12. Great Album Covers From Bands We Despise
  13. Top 10 NWOBHM Covers
  14. It’s A Piece of Art!
  15. Compilation Kaos!
  16. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hipgnosis!
  17. Amped Up!
  18. Packaging Fails
  19. Where’s the Band?
  20. Slippery When Wet