Day 2:
12:30pm: Day 2 started out by talking to the teen-aged bands. First up was Gabriel Garcia from a pretty cool band called Black Tide. Gabriel wasn’t really well spoken, but who was at age 15!
12:50pm: I worked my way up to one of the suites at Crew Stadium to talk to the band Drive A. These kids were also in the 16 – 17 age range. They were in way over their head in the interview part of the business, but the band can flat out play.
1:30pm: I was summoned to the media tent to talk with Seether. At 1:502pm, I got the call that the bus was late, and they needed to push the interview back. I scrambled back to the media tent just in time to recapture the interview with Aaron and Mike from Seether.
I couldn’t wait any longer, I was supposed to meet Papa Roach in the back-stage area. When I arrived at my predetermined site, there was nobody there. At exactly
2:20pm: Papa Roach had arrived and we climbed aboard the tour bas to record a long and detailed conversation with guitarist Jerry Horton.
3:00pm: Rev Theory made their way to the Press tent. I grabbed Ricky Licks the guitarist who had been at the ROTR Festival last year in the band Operator. Rick told me Operator is still together but he had moved on.
4:00pm: Next up for me was my old friend Chris Henderson of 3 Doors Down (Photo above). I Love Chris, he’s a hard working musician that really loves what he does. Chris and I always have fun conversations, and this was no exception. In fact it was the best interview of the day. Unfortunately in 2 crazy days like this something would eventually go wrong, and we had a digital error on our recording device (a Zoom H4) and we lost the entire interview.
5:45pm: Due to the fact that Flyleaf had to cancel the show, Alter Bridge moved their set time around, and then had to adjust their interview times. Mark Tremonti is a big fan of the Chop Shop and wanted to be on the show again, but our schedules didn’t sync up. Mark did agree that he would be my “Guest Host” next time I take a vacation. In the mean time, I went back to the dressing room and recorded a great conversation with Guitarist & singer Myles Kennedy.
8:30pm: It’s time for my 8th interview of the day and 19th interview of a dizzying 2-day excursion to Columbus…..bring on the star of the show Kid Rock. I have talked to Kid maybe 10 or 12 times before he hit the big time, and said hello a good 5 times since his rise to the top. I’ve interviewed his guitarists several times, but this was my first official interview with him. It started a little slow, I don’t think he was used to my musical line of questioning, just when he was starting to really get into the interview, management said last question….I hate when that happens, but you just have to be gracious and accept it as part of the job. After I got off the bus I realized it was only a 6-minute interview….a bit of a gyp. Most interviews are at least 10 minutes. But that was the end a 2 long kick ass work days!
¶ 7:02 PM
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Rock on the Range
A record breaking day of rock $ roll at Rock on the Range!
11:00am: The first interview of the day was with Anthony Armstrong of the band Red. We recorded our conversation behind the 2nd stage….no big deal except there was no where to sit, so we wandered over to a giant rock and sat down. My first rock & roll interview, while actually sitting on a rock
11:15am: I scrambled back to the media tent and my crew uploaded the audio and still photos, and emailed them to WRIF, to be posted on the website. I was on the phone confirming additional interviews
12:00pm: It was back to the 2nd stage area, this time on a tour bus to interview both guitarists and bass player for the band 10 Years.
12:20pm: Back to the media tent, more uploading!
12:30pm: Joel O’Keefe from Airbourne made his way to the WRIF/Chop Shop table. Joel is a real high energy Australian guitarist, who LOVES Iron Maiden…naturally we got along very well.
1:00pm: with a quick break in the action, as the team uploaded and emailed, I grabbed a grease burger and some chips.
1:30pm: Kill Switch Engage came into the media tent. I sat down with guitarist Joel Stroetzel to tall about their recent success.
2:00pm: Tyler and David from Theory of a Deadman were escorted to our table. This was the 5th interview of the day, and the 5th 1st time interview of the day for me. Tyler and David were cool, and I really like their new album.
3:00pm: Next up is Staind, I got to talk with both Aaron and Mike. Mike had been on the Chop Shop before, but it’s the 1st time I had talked to Aaron.
3:45pm: One of the highlights of the day as I went back stage to talk with Serj Tankian. Serj is a very learned and eclectic person, and it’s always a treat to talk with someone of his intellect.
4:30pm: Onto the Disturbed tour bus to talk to Dan Donagin. This was the 5th time I’ve interviewed Dan, and the 5th season of the Chop Shop…..I love how that works!
4:50pm: Shinedown stops by the media tent. Former Silvertide guitarist and good friend Nick Perri is now in the band and it really great to see him looking happy and healthy.
5:15pm: My crew managed to grab Richard Patrick of Filter, and I got to talk to him about their powerful new song Soldier of Misfortune.
5:30pm: My 11th interview of the day is with Finger 11 guitarist Rick Jackett. Rick is fired up and loves to talk guitars!
6:00pm: I take a deep breath and enjoy my new personal record of 11 interviews in 7 hours.
¶ 12:04 PM
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Official Press release
As of June 2nd, the Chop Shop and Chop Shop Classic will be available in 1 and 2 hour versions. Both versions will contain two feature interview segments as well as the exclusive Chop Shop Hall of Fame feature, where such guests as Ted Nugent, Brian May, Leslie West, and hundreds others pay tribute to guitar legends Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Angus Young, Slash and more. The expanded show will also feature weekly updates on bands and tours, web exclusive content, and special guests all while playing 10 songs an hour.
Host Steve Black (WRIF/ Detroit) comments on the ongoing success of the show, “The thing that makes the Chop Shop stand out among other syndicated radio shows is that it’s not pigeon holed by its concept.” “The Chop Shop is dedicated to playing music that includes a guitar, in other words, ALL rock music!” Black continues, “From classic to punk, pop to grunge, metal to current, all rock music incorporates the guitar, so the show can always stay relevant.”
In the last three years, guitar sales for the first time ever hit the billion dollar mark, selling 1.02 billion in 2004, 1.15 billion in 2005 and 2006 according to the musictrades.com website. The Guitar Hero video games have been wildly successful, and the interest in rock music is on the rise.
The Chop Shop is the only established show to center on guitar music and musicians. This week marks the beginning of year 5 for The Chop Shop
Thank you all..
¶ 3:20 PM
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Big Announcment
The week of May 12th is the Start of Season # 5 for the Chop Shop and we'll have a major announcment to go along with the launch of our 5th season of rockin' the Nation!
¶ 7:58 PM
