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By Andrew Bansal

Known and revered among metalheads for his contribution to Megadeth with his 10-year stint in the band spanning such seminal albums like Rust In Peace, Countdown To Extinction and Youthanasia, guitarist extraordinaire Marty Friedman has lived a life of his own in Japan since leaving Megadeth, which has been quite different from what he did in metal and Megadeth. But last year, Prosthetic Records reissued some of his recent albums that were previously never released in the States, and all of it has led to Marty now landing in Los Angeles and working on a brand new solo album for Prosthetic. Last Saturday, he did a much awaited meet-n-greet at the Prosthetic Records office/warehouse in Inglewood. Before he graciously met the fans and gave them as much of his time as they wanted during a signing that lasted more than two hours, I got a chance to do an in-person interview with him. I aired the 12-minute interview on Episode 4 of the new Metal Assault radio show on Razor KXRZ in the live broadcast last Wednesday September 11th 2013, and now the podcast version of the entire episode is posted below. The Marty Friedman segment begins at exactly the 51:06 mark. Check out the full playlist for the episode here. Continue reading “Marty Friedman Discusses Upcoming Solo Album & More (Audio)”

By Andrew Bansal

Veteran shock rockers GWAR are ready to release their thirteenth studio album ‘Battle Maximus’ on September 17 via Metal Blade Records, their first album since the tragic and sudden loss of guitarist Flattus Maximus two years ago. To support this new album, they will be out on a short co-headline US run with Hatebreed in September followed by a full North American tour in October and November with Whitechapel, Iron Reagan and Band of Orcs. A few days ago, I spoke to frontman Dave Brockie a.k.a. Oderus Urungus over the phone about this new album, touring, critics and more. Read the conversation below. Continue reading “GWAR Frontman Talks New Album, Touring & More”

By Andrew Bansal

To coincide with the July 2013 re-release of their third studio album ‘Electric’, The Cult have been on the ‘Electric 13’ tour across North America since July and are coming to the end of the tour with back-to-back shows in Los Angeles at the Wiltern on September 7th and the House Of Blues Sunset Strip on September 8th. Released in 1987, the Electric album has been given a new lease of life by its current rendition on stage as the band plays it in its entirety every night of the tour. The 2013 reissue of the album is called ‘Electric-Peace’ and includes the Peace album which was only released in the Rare Cult box set back in the year 2000. On September 4th 2013, I spoke to bassist Chris Wyse to talk about the Electric album, the progress on the follow-up to ‘Weapon Of Choice’, musical direction, touring, and more. Read the conversation below. Continue reading “The Cult Bassist Chris Wyse Discusses ‘Electric 13’ Tour”

By Andrew Bansal

Best known as singer of the 70s all-girl rock band The Runaways, Cherie Currie had been absent from the music scene for a long, long time but thankfully and finally she recently decided to make a return to the stage and perform for fans again. Last Friday (August 30th 2013), I had the pleasure of seeing her play with her solo band as an opening act to Danzig at the Gibson Amphitheatre. At a show where none of the other bands on the lineup impressed me, Cherie put on a great show and proved herself as a true singer and performer. A couple of days after the show, I called her up for a phone interview to talk about that show and everything else she’s musically up to these days. It was quite a lovely conversation and an absolute honor. I aired the 18-minute interview on Episode 3 of the new Metal Assault radio show on Razor KXRZ in the live broadcast last Wednesday September 4th 2013, and now the podcast version of the entire episode is posted here. The Runaways/Cherie Currie segment begins at exactly the 44:30 mark. Check out the full playlist for the episode here. Continue reading “In Conversation With Cherie Currie”