Paul Gilbert was just 15 when he reached out to Shrapnel Records looking for a job playing guitar with Ozzy Osbourne. The gig never happened, but Shrapnel executives were impressed enough with Gilbert’s demo that it landed him a major record deal three years later. His band, Racer X, went… Read More →
Chris Serico joins the Listening Room. Like that “Freedom Rock” album of yore, you should turn it up.
Jagermeister just launched its 21st Fall Music Tour, featuring the show’s original “Clash of the Titans” roster of metal icons — Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, organizers tell The Listening Room. Now we’re telling you. The 20-date tour, which is due to make a stop at the Nassau Coliseum next month,... Read More →
It started as a side project that wasn’t supposed to go anywhere. In fact, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes never expected to release any albums. Some 15 years later, they have seven releases and an international following. In fact, they’re currently on tour in Australia. And the acclaim is… Read More →
The truth is that Masatoshi “Marcy” Mashima never really made any noise in the U.S. But in his native Japan, the co-founder and guitarist for the punk band The Blue Hearts was nothing short of a sensation — as was his top-selling band. The Blue Hearts were Japan’s answer to… Read More →
“Soundgarden didn’t set out to destroy metal — just take it back to basics,” Rolling Stone magazine once wrote. “Thayil updated the forbidding sludge and tweaked-out solos of prime Zep.” Kim Thayil, Soundgarden’s innovative lead guitarist, was in fact an architect of the stripped down, riff-based guitar sound that came… Read More →
ZZ Top has been laying down some of the rawest blues riffs for the past four decades, and yet the band is still so heavy and so relevant that it’s no wonder the shows at the Beacon Theater these past two nights have been so well received by both fans… Read More →
We introduced you to Fools On Sunday in January, when we covered the five-band showcase of local talent they hosted at the Ossining Eagles Hall. Well, they’re still making some noise, led by 13-year-old drummer/singer/songwriter Evan “Johnny Lightning” Seligman. The band tells the Listening Room they just finished recording four… Read More →
Emil D’Onofrio Listening Room contributor I was a senior in high school when the 1980s arrived. I can remember a fellow student relating how he welcomed the new decade at a New Years Eve Party with the toast, “Here’s to the eighties; may the be as good as the sixties.”... Read More →