Talk About the Passion

#84: Point of Entry With Bob Mayo (Pt. 1)

Episode 84 sees Bob Mayo return for a third appearance on the podcast, this time we are talking about the "point of entry" phenomena wherein the first record you hear by an artist orients your idea of what they should sound like. We talk about getting into bands like Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Cheap Trick and Iron Maiden to name a few. When you first heard Judas Priest did you then move backwards through their catalog, or were you there for the beginning of some of these bands? We talk about the new Iron Maiden record and what other bands are still putting out solid records as well as how being a fan of music and a collector informed how he presented the excellent reissues of his band Wargasm. Look for a second episode soon where we get into underground and thrash metal!

#76: Somewhere In Time (A Conversation With Steve Brooks)

Episode 76 is a conversation with Steve Brooks, Steve is best known as the guitar player and singer of bands Torche and Floor. I've been a big fan of both of these bands who play some of the heaviest and catchiest music around. We get into where that inspiration came from to create the music in those bands, starting like a number of my guests, with Kiss, and we end up in the present where Steve gives me an update on what Torche has been up to so far in 2021 (hint: new music has been recorded) Steve was a great guest, as one of my favorite musicians working today I appreciate him taking the time to chat. 

#75: Remember Tomorrow (Another Conversation With Bob Mayo)

Episode 75 is another conversation with Bob Mayo of the Boston area metal band Wargasm. This episode almost serves as a prequel to the first one we did (Episode 27) where we mostly talked about the history of Wargasm. Here we talk about the music that Bob grew up with starting around 1978 with Sabbath and Kiss, hitting the NWOBHM in 1980 and going up to around when thrash metal hit. Bob is a great storyteller and loves talking about music, I'm glad we were able to talk again and plan to do some more episodes in the future. 

#46: It's Alive! (A Conversation With Brian & Guy About Live Records)

Episode 46 is a deep and long dive with my co-hosts Brian Smith and Guy Weatherbee about live records. More than just a discussion of our specific favorite live records, we get pretty loose and open about the live album as an archive of a band at a certain point in time, infamous "fake" live recordings, and we somehow manage to cover everyone from the usual suspects like Rush and Kiss to artists like Dave Brubeck and Sammy Davis Jr. This was a lot of fun to record and there will most likely be a volume two to this one 

#45: God Of Thunder (A Conversation With Chris Giguere)

Episode 45 is a conversation with Chris Giguere. Chris plays guitar in the band Conclave, he has also done time in Tenebrae and Panzerbastard. In this episode we talk about growing up in Blackstone, MA which borders Woonsocket, RI. As the title indicates and as a good amount of these episodes go, Kiss is an early influence on Chris so we of course talk a bit about them, as well as other heavy music, classic rock music and everything in between. Chris made a great guest, he and I have a lot of the same ideas and opinions on music and life so this conversations is natural and sounds like I'm talking with an old friend, when in fact we had just met. 

#39: Chemistry (A Conversation With Brian Smith and Guy Wetherbee)

Episode 39 is a conversation with Brian Smith and Guy Wetherbee. Brian and Guy are lifelong friends and also collectively have a group called Four Way Anal Touchfight. They talk about the origins of that project here. We spend over two hours talking music from their formative years, sharing music with each other and by the end of the episode you'll understand why the title "Chemistry" (after the Rush song) is so fitting. We talk about everything from Rush to Gorilla Biscuits to Asia to the B-52's and Krokus. As we talk about in this episode Brian and Guy will be appearing on some future episodes as well. 

Episode 27: The Chase Is Better Than The Catch (A Conversation With Bob Mayo)

Episode 27 is a conversation with Bob Mayo. Bob is a founding member of Massachusetts thrash metal band Wargasm who operated between 1985 and 1995. Bob talks about getting into hard rock and metal in the 70's and 80's, how he got Wargasm together and then walks through the whole story of that band. Wargasm were an amazing metal band who have an amazing story and Bob is the perfect story teller to get through all of the ups and downs they went through. Bob's lifelong love of music as a performer and a fan is on display in this episode and makes him a perfect guest for TATP. 

Episode 15: Candy Girl (A Conversation With Angie C. Shaw)

Episode 15 is a conversation with Boston area DJ Angie C Shaw. Angie is a close friend of mine so of course it was a natural conversation. Her lifelong love of music and the enthusiasm to talk about the stuff she loves made her an obvious choice for the podcast. We cover a lot of ground from her early days in radio through the current state of terrestrial radio. Angie is a great story teller and there are some good ones here, including some cool behind the scenes stories with some big name musicians. Angie was on WFNX in the early 90's right as Nirvana broke and into the early 2000's, she now can be heard on the classic rock station WZLX 100.7 FM. Enjoy!

Episode 14: Ace of Spades (A Conversation With Keith Bennett)

Episode 14 is a talk with Keith Bennett. Keith is a veteran of the Boston hardcore and metal scene and has played in multiple bands, most notably Wrecking Crew in the 80's and currently PanzerBastard. Keith talks in length about getting into music as a kid, his stories are intense and hilarious. Keith speaks from his heart and gets into some pretty heavy subject matter at times, and yes there is some salty language on this one. All said, this 90 minute episode is packed with a ton of great stories and I definitely hope I can get him back on for another one.