The Vinyl Brothers, Session 1: Tommy Shaw & The SoundBard on Eric Clapton’s Underrated Clapton LP

BY MIKE METTLER — OCTOBER 21, 2013

Get Tommy Shaw and me, Mr. SoundBard, in a room talking about music, and chances are you’ll have to drag us out by our respective ears to get us on the way to our next destinations. (Just ask Styx’s ever-patient, ever-gracious tour manager and assistant tour manager.) Tommy […]

By |October 21st, 2013|The SoundBard Interview|Comments Off on The Vinyl Brothers, Session 1: Tommy Shaw & The SoundBard on Eric Clapton’s Underrated Clapton LP

Harmonic Converger: Graham Nash Unveils a Life Full of Wild Tales

BY MIKE METTLER

“Music is astounding, isn’t it?” Graham Nash is genuinely enamored with the wonders of sound — and so am I. There’s always a special twinkle in his eye whenever we get together to talk about the indelible music he’s made since the early 1960s, the new music he’s planning to make next, […]

The Band’s Robbie Robertson on Here’s Little Richard and New Orleans: Home of the Blues

MIKE METTLER: What was the first record you ever bought?
ROBBIE ROBERTSON: The first record I ever bought with my own money was Here’s Little Richard [released March 1957, on Specialty Records]. I was addicted to his song “Rip It Up.” It was the most amazing shuffle. It still is, to this day.

METTLER: Do you […]

By |October 10th, 2013|The Soundtrack of Our Lives|Comments Off on The Band’s Robbie Robertson on Here’s Little Richard and New Orleans: Home of the Blues

Flaming Lips Frontman Wayne Coyne Finds His Groove on Vinyl

In the above YouTube clip, Wayne Coyne and I discuss “You Are Alone,” the song that opens Side C of the 2 LP set of The Flaming Lips’ latest full-length aural delight/challenge, The Terror (2013). Notes Coyne of the song, “it consists of a strange emotional chord that was the true spark for the […]