Very happy for my old friend Steve Brown guitarist for NJ band Trixter. Steve has landed the gig filling in for Vivian Campbell in Def Leppard while Viv continues his treatments for cancer. Steve is a talented guy that had success in the early 90’s with Trixter and has been playing in a variety of bands ever since, including a reformed Trixter as of a few years ago. Steve is just one of MANY great players from that era that unfortunately were limited in the opportunities they get regardless of their talent because they are part of that “80’s scene”. If you recall even Jake E Lee said on That Metal Show he was passed over for many gigs because people associated him with “hair metal” (another reason I hate that term). It still carries a stigma for many and is so unfair because so much talent was around at that time. Steve is one of those examples of a talented guy from that time period that now thankfully is getting a great shot on a huge stage as a member of a huge band even if just temporary. Hopefully it will bode well for other artists with talent from that era to be given a fair shot at bigger and better things. I love stories like this. Guys who stuck it out, played bars, never stopped believing when the industry looked past them, and then to get a huge shot. Similar story for Mark Tornillo who has now made 3 great albums as the lead singer in Accept. Went from playing clubs in NJ and working as an electrician, to overnight opening for AC/DC in a stadium as lead singer of Accept. So good luck to Steve and kudos to Leppard for giving him a shot (not to mention having an American in the band!). Most importantly get well soon to Vivian. Yes I am happy for Steve to have this temporary gig, but let’s all pull for Viv to get healthy and return to his gig as soon as he is up for it.
Great response to my all new interview with Slash on this weeks podcast. Grab it free and worldwide via Itunes or www.podcastone.com
All new radio show tonight on Q104.3 & WAAF 11P ET. Remember both stations also stream. Q104.3 via iHeartradio app and WAAF at www.waaf.com As usual the show airs on all affiliates over the weekend listed on this site.
All new live SiriusXM show Monday 6-10P ET on channel 39. Skid Row guitarist and co-founder Snake Sabo will be sitting in.
New TMS scheduled to start taping in Jan. Shows to air in Feb. Details when I have them from VH1C.
See you at Overkill at Starland this Saturday if in the area.
Have a good weekend. My Giants 2-2 and 1-0 in the division, I’ll take it!
23 Responses
I am so happy for Steve Brown. He’s a great dude a great friend of many years and a super talent. He is very deserving of this gig in Def Leppard. He is one of five people that actually tried to help me in the music business over a span of 25+ years. The music business is a cesspool of talentless criminals. Through my stints in Waysted, Mariah, Doro, Tyketto, Lita Ford and all the hundreds of other bands I was in, he has remained a true friend. I’m glad to see you mention him Eddie and you put them on the show once a while but I have to wonder if you’re wishing that you would’ve helped him with all your juice over all the years he struggled to get back on the mountain, instead of going to kiss his ass now which is inevitable.
Lol, well that is a somewhat unfair comment. Eddie has done a lot to promote artists who aren’t at all in the limelight, although I will agree his ass kissing of Ace Frehley does border on the absurd.
Can you give me some examples of my “ass kissing”? Things like saying his new album has 3 songs I don’t think are so strong maybe? Or that Second Sighting was a weak album even though I helped produce it? Love the conclusions some can reach based on nothing..
Don’t be so sensitive. And yes, every KISS story that you run or comment on is basically kissing Ace Frehley’s ass, especially as it relates to the band and his dealings with Gene and Paul. So to say “on nothing” is humorous, but simply not reality.
Like I’ve said before, it’s ok to admit you are a fan. Not everyone sees things the way you do though. Thanks for the platform here for people to air their views, I do appreciate it and still think that you do a great job keeping hard rock and heavy metal in the news.
Do you not understand we don’t write these stories? Am I now supposed to police and shape what others write to make sure it doesn’t upset or slant things? I mean where does this nonsense stop. Maybe I should just tell all these writers and Ace to censor their thoughts for the benefit of some fans when we run what’s sent to us on this site. Amazing..
Don’t be so grumpy James. Try yoga.
Should Eddie just appoint himself Steve’s manager?? By bringing a dude from Trixter on to play on TMS Eddie s exposing him to many that don’t know who he or Trixter are so I would think that is as you say “using his juice” to help…what other show is putting on a guy from Trixter?? Come on dude, you must have a bigger issue with Trunk than this, because your comments make no sense…
I get where some bands can actually be called “hair metal” because there were definitely bands that were generic, style over substance, and musically one dimensional. But that can be said for any style or sub genre of metal and hard rock. So it’s not fair that great hard rock bands like Tesla, Skid Row, Badlands, and tons others got pigeonholed as “hair metal” and falsely associated with the goofy, mascara wearing poofy-haired inferior bands and the results were MTV and radio programmers turned their backs on them. Grunge and Nu Metal were more like fads that came and went pretty quickly but classic hard rock and metal is timeless. It still pisses me off that so many great bands were shoved out of the way and ignored just because of the era they came from.
How about a Ralph Saenz and Russ Parrish podcast?
Let’s be honest. Guys looking like girls and wearing tight spandex looks pretty silly. I grew up in the hair band time frame. I didn’t much care for it then or now. To me this time period is when the music got real watered down. Had no soul. Bands all looked the same and sounded the same. I was a Ratt fan and one huge reason was Steven Percy had a voice that wasn’t just trying to sing as high as he could and bust glass with it. But really. Every band had the high vocals lead singer trying to be Robert Plant. Every band had the hot lead guitar player. It just all got so silly and to me very hollow. To me Alice & Chains blows anything away that hair metal bands were doing. We all like to relive our childhood but in my opinion these bands were horrible song writers and as far as talent? I just don’t see it. Bands like Rush, Styx, REO, Boston, Kansas, Van Halen, Kiss, Aldo Nova, Pat Benatar, Blondie, Shooting Star, Journey, Straycats (now that dude is a talented guitar player) Ozzy, Blue Oyster Cult, ect…. Bands that had some soul to their music. Everybody had different tastes. But to me hair metal was the worst music of that period. Poor mixing and produced records. And very cookie cutter songwriting. Just me. Really tho the best rock music toe was the 60’s and 70’s. My god the music still sounds fresh. Hendrix, The Doors, Zepplin, The Beatles, The Zombies, The Animals, so
So many great bands.
I might add. I was listening to a metal radio station the other day and it was all the same stuff. Over and over. I couldn’t tell one band from the other. So history is repeating itself. It’s got more balls to it compared to Hair Metal but no originality. That to me is why it’s hard to beat pop and alternative music. It’s all over the board.