And twelve episodes later we are back with more Maiden. In our fourth installment we’ll cover the studio output from 1995 to 2000. That would be The X Factor, Virtual XI, and Brave New World. It’s a three album run of sometimes polarizing releases which opens with the Blaze Bayley era and ends with the return of both Bruce and Adrian. You could almost consider this run to be the prelude to the modern age of Maiden Up The Irons!! And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

And twelve episodes later we are back with more Maiden. In our fourth installment we’ll cover the studio output from 1995 to 2000. That would be The X Factor, Virtual XI, and Brave New World. It’s a three album run of sometimes polarizing releases which opens with the Blaze Bayley era and ends with the return of both Bruce and Adrian. You could almost consider this run to be the prelude to the modern age of Maiden Up The Irons!! And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Veering WAAAAAAAY of the beaten path this week as we talk with former runner/artist liaison Wendell Smith. Wendell spent lots of time working for the House of Blues and other venues and is a frequent commenter on our Facebook page so why not get him on and pick his brain. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Longtime guest Robin McAuley joins us once again this week to talk about his brand new solo release “Alive”. And of course Robin is always a great conversationalist so we delve into some other items with him as well. Once you get two Irishmen talking it's virtually impossible to stop that train. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Guitarist Mark Kendall returns to the show this week to kick back just have a chat about, well anything. So there’s talk about his early L.A. days, Great White albums, new singers… So kick back and enjoy the chat and afterwards put on some Great White. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Little Caesar vocalist Ron Young joins us again this week but in a twist he’s here to talk about his new book “Judge This Book By It’s Cover” rather than the latest release from his band. The book details his life and career and the vagaries of the music industry. Lots of good stories from Ron this week and be sure to pick his book when you’re done. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

What’s on tap this week. Sadly not a few pints of Trooper but I digress. This week we have an old school chat about reviews. Are they even relevant today? Well this week we toss out some opinions on the subject. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

A sad topic this week as we have a bit of discussion in honor of our friend, mentor, collaborator and frequent guest Bob Nalbandian who sadly passed away on Dec 30th. This show would probably not exist if it weren’t for Bob and we felt the need to get together and say a few words. Even that’s hard, what can you adequately say to represent the scope of Bob’s true impact on metal? And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Hitting the old school FoM vibe this week with a bit of freeform current event discussion to wrap up the year. Metallica, Pantera, and Priest are the main discussion points this week. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

When you talk journeyman bassists one name rises to the top, Chuck Wright. Besides his well known stints with Giuffria, House of Lords and Quiet Riot Chuck has been involved in over 90 other releases. And if that wasn’t enough earlier this year Chuck released “Chuck Wright’s Sheltering Sky” which garnered several award nominations and glowing reviews. This week Chuck comes on to talk about all of that and much more. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

This week we wrap up our three part series celebrating the anniversary of the self titled Lynch Mob release. Last week we dove in with vocalist Robert Mason and this week we wrap up our talk with him. If you want to hear our anniversary show we did for the Wicked Sensation release a few years back head into the archive and check out episodes 479 and 480 with Anthony Esposito and Max Norman. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Well, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of Wicked Sensation with a multi-episode run a few years ago so why not do the same for the self titled release? Last week we spoke with bassist Anthony Esposito. This week we continue the series by talking with vocalist Robert Mason who made his major label debut on this one. These days Robert lends his considerable pipes to Warrant. Head to WarrantRocks.com to keep up with him. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Well, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of Wicked Sensation with a multi-episode run a few years ago so why not do the same for the self titled release? This week we kick off a few shows focusing on the S/T Lynch Mob release that came out in April of 1992. Since we started the Wicked set with bassist Anthony Esposito we figured why not do it again for this one. So, this week we have another great chat with Anthony and then on the next one we’ll dive in with vocalist Robert Mason. And as...

And we are back with more Maiden. In our third installment we’ll cover the studio output from 88 to 92. That would be Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, No Prayer For The Dying, and Fear of The Dark. It’s an odd few years worth of musical and personnel changes for the mighty Maiden. Up The Irons!! And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Back on episode 425 we had welcomed author Jim Santora to the show to discuss his latest book. This week we have Jim back to talk about the much anticipated sequel “Underrated Rock Book Too!”. Yep Jim kicks out another 200 albums that he considerers deserve our consideration. The book is slated to come out on October 12th so get your orders in now. If ya wanna read more head to Jim’s site underratedrockbook.com And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

On Sept 30th The Dead Daisies will release their sixth studio album “Radiance”. This week guitarist Doug Aldrich joins us to talk about the new album, the upcoming tour and everything else going on in his world at the moment. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

Guitarist Vivian Campbell makes his fourth appearance on the show this week.Yep, last time we talked was 50 episodes ago on episode 500. This week also marks Richie's 10th year on the show. This week Vivian joins us to talk about the upcoming EP, tour and full length album from Last in Line. And of course while we have him we may as well touch base on his “day job” with Def Leppard and get into a little back history as well. Oh, and don’t mind the soup, even guitar players have to eat...

This month author Matt Karpe will release his sixth book “Tool: every album, every song” as part of Sonicbond Publishing's "On Track" series. Matt joins us this week to discuss the book, the band, and what he’ll be writing about next. I’ll also be doing a bit of opining on the supposed “riot” that was bring incited at Extreme’s Sept 2nd show. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

What does a hotshot guitar player do when the US leg of his Whitesnake tour gets cancelled? Well if you’re Joel Hoekstra you call up Brandon Gibbs of Devil City Angels, grab some acoustics, a rental car and fire up the 2022 edition of the Campfire Tour. It kicks off on 9/22 in Maryland and Joel joins us this week to talk about the tour, Whitesnake, TSO, Iconic, and so much more. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

This is the second of two episodes we spent with veteran concert photographer Bill O’Leary. With over 40 years of concert shots under his belt Bill is a wealth of knowledge and stories. This episode we’ll we’ll focus on specific bands in his catalog. Go back to Episode 545 to get an in depth look at his career. Make sure to check out his website timelessconcertimages.com or grab some of his great shots for yourselves at timelessconcertimages.pixels.com. You can also check out his books...

Change of plans this week. We’re gonna interrupt our chat with Bill O’Leary to air a chat with Jeff Keith of Tesla. The band is currently on the second leg of their 2022 tour and they are in fine form and even better they even play NEW stuff in the set. That’s a rarity these days. This week we’ll talk with Jeff about Jeff, the band, the tours, and much more. Having spoken with both Frank and Brian on different occasions I can say that Jeff is equally as great to talk with. Oh, and the...

This is the first of two episodes we’ll be spending with veteran concert photographer Bill O’Leary. With over 40 years of concert shots under his belt Bill is a wealth of knowledge and stories. This episode we’ll be digging into his career and on the next one we’ll focus on specific bands in his catalog. Make sure to check out his website timelessconcertimages.com or grab some of his great shots for yourselves at timelessconcertimages.pixels.com. You can also check out his books that are...

March of 1997 Queensryche released their sixth studio album, “Hear In The Now Frontier”. Ironically, for an album cover adorned with ears a large swath of the Ryche faithful weren’t listening. This week Richie and our guest contributor Brian Heaton discuss in depth why this is the case and is it warranted. For an even deeper dive into the band pick up copy of “Building An Empire”. It’s the definitive biography of the band and just happens to be co-authored by Brian. And as always Focus On...

Five years after the release of their Sophomore effort “Ignite My Insanity” Projected returns with “Hypoxia”. Released on June24th via Ra Pak Records the band retains the same lineup of Eric Friedman (Tremonti), Vinnie Hornsby (Sevendust), Scott Phillips (Alter Bridge), and this weeks returning guest John Connolly (Sevendust). John joins us this week to not only talk about Projected newest release but also delves into some band history, writing ethos, and touches upon Sevendust as well....

So here we are 10 episodes after we started on this Maiden slog back to look at the next three Maiden studio releases “Piece of Mind”, “Powerslave” and “Somewhere in Time”. And we do break into a somewhat more than brief dive into “Live After Death” as well cuz, screw it, it’s our damn show. So as I said back on episode 532, definitely not the definitive critical review, just two metalheads talking about Maiden circa 83 to 86. And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.