Welcome to the official on-line home of Eddie Trunk – celebrating all things Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. We are bringing you a whole new on-line experience, bringing you backstage and behind the scenes into the world of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Here’s your All Access pass to exclusive content you can’t get anywhere else, including articles, interviews, media, and of course, Eddie’s unique insight, knowledge & perspective into the events, bands and music we all love, articles.
Of course, we also want to hear from you too! So please email us at
[email protected]
Bio
Eddie Trunk is a 40 + year music industry veteran who began his career in 1983 and has built a reputation for being one of the most respected personalities in the world of Rock, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Eddie has spent time as a record executive and has also worked in artist management, but has really found his calling as a broadcaster, host and interviewer on radio and TV.
Eddie began his broadcasting career in 1983, after convincing the execs at his favorite local radio station, WDHA in NJ, to allow him to produce a hard rock/heavy metal specialty show – one of the first of it’s kind. That show continues to this day under the banner of Eddie Trunk Rocks (also labeled Friday Night Rocks in NYC). “Eddie Trunk Rocks” originates out of New York City, the number one radio market, on Q104.3 and is syndicated nationally and heard on more than 35, stations including other top 10 markets such as Boston. The 3 hour weekly show includes new and classic hard rock music hand picked by Eddie as well as news making artist interviews and more. It is also available on various streams free. It is among the first ever radio shows in history to focus on hard rock.
Eddie also hosts Eddie Trunk Live, a weekly live music, talk & interview show every Monday night (5-8PET/ 2-5P Pacific) on SiriusXM satellite radio channel 39 (Hair Nation), which is branded “Trunk Nation” during his program. The show has become appointment listening throughout America and Canada due to its in depth interviews, commentary and wide ranging guests and audience calls. It is one of satellite radios few live interactive shows on a music channel and features Eddie’s brand of “music and talk that rocks”. It has been on air since 2002.
In 2002 Eddie took the leap into television after being hired as a host on VH1’s sister station, VH1 Classic, where Eddie was regularly seen hosting the interview series Hanging With, as well as appearing on many of the station’s other segments and specials. From 2008-2015 he was host and co-producer of the hit series That Metal Show, the longest running program in the station’s history. That Metal Show was seen around the world and was a favorite destination for many Rock/Heavy Metal fans and artists. Over more than 120 episodes the show featured the biggest names in all genres of rock music. VH1 Classic was terminated as a channel in August of 2016 ending the program with the end of the network.
Eddie is armed with a true passion for the music he so feverishly champions. A true scholar of the genre, his encyclopedic knowledge of both it’s history and it’s current events has led him to be widely regarded as one of it’s foremost authorities by fans and artists alike. Consequently, it made perfect sense that Eddie would eventually turn his attention to writing. In 2010, Eddie added “author” to his list of media credits and released his first book “Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock & Heavy Metal.” The book was very well received by critics and fans alike. In 2013 the sequel, “Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Vol. 2,” was released to equally strong sales and response. Both books were released by Abrams Publishing.
In 2014 after many requests Eddie added a weekly podcast to his outlets. “The Eddie Trunk Podcast” is produced by SiriusXM with new episodes every Thursday on their website as well as Itunes, Spotify and all major podcast platforms free worldwide. The podcast is typically top 10 on Itunes every week and features Eddie’s commentary and a wide range of guests.
In 2016 Eddie was named host of the AXS TV series Real To Reel, which spotlights music documentaries of all genres.
In October 2016 Eddie became one of 3 daily live radio shows on the newly launched SiriusXM 24/7 music talk channel called Volume (106). Eddie was heard live daily hosting Trunk Nation Monday-Friday 2-4PM ET (replay 10-Mid ET) taking calls, doing interviews, and providing commentary on all things rock with a wide variety of the biggest names in rock. In August of 2022 Volume was discontinued by SiriusXM as a broadcast channel and Eddie’s show was moved and is now heard daily 3-5P ET on Faction Talk 103 as well as streaming and On Demand on the SXM app Replays on 103 Mid ET daily). His interviews make world rock news almost daily.
July 1st 2018 AXS TV debuted TrunkFest hosted by Eddie Trunk. In this brand new TV series Eddie takes viewers on a tour of experiences at music festivals around the world. The program airs various times and days on AXS or on their site. Eddie also has appears and consults on various music based documentaries, most recently the Dio documentary which he appears in, and several shows for Reelz , Paramount Plus and more channel related to music.
Eddie hosts countless rock shows, cruises and festivals on a regular basis. He also regular appears on the road performing live speaking shows. In 2023 Eddie reunited with his former That Metal Show hosts Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine for a new YouTube rock talk/interview show called That Rocks!
Eddie’s Story
Eddie Trunk was born in New Jersey on August 8th 1964. A lifelong Jersey resident, Trunk was into music at a very early age. It started like any young kid in the early 70s, with the Partridge Family and various top 40 radio hits on the close and play (remember those?). Then in the mid 70s Trunk was introduced by a friend to a band called The Raspberries, and was instantly drawn to the sound of “power pop,” a style of music that had the pop hooks, but also heavy crunching guitar riffs. This quickly became his favorite band, and even though the Raspberries only had moderate mass success, Trunk had to have every record and know everything he could about the band. At that point, Eddie was only 11 years old, and was way too young to ever see his new found heroes live (something he finally did on the bands 2005 reunion, not only did he see them, he intro’d them and interviewed them for TV on VH1 Classic).
Then came 1976 and walking home from Jr. High School Trunk made his usual stop at the local record shop he passed every day with a friend. It was there that he was introduced to a record by a band called Kiss. Their brand new album at the time was called Rock & Roll Over. However, since his buddy hadn’t heard that one yet, he recommended the previous Kiss LP called Destroyer. Needless to say, like any other kid growing up in the 70s, the Kiss obsession began (and still continues!). From there it led to other hard rock favorites such as Aerosmith, UFO, Black Sabbath, Billy Squier (whom Eddie had seen open for Kiss with his old band Piper at his first concert ever in December of ’77 at Madison Square Garden), Rush, Y&T, and countless others. Trunk never cared about trends and if bands were considered “cool,” and was often made fun of for the bands and music he liked (there was no band considered more un-cool than Kiss in the very early 80s). As a result, he never spent much time with the “in crowd” in high school, and spent time listening to records and reading about his favorite bands. As a senior in high school (where he never had good grades), Trunk was asked to write a record review section for the high school newspaper. It was there that he could earn school credit, while also doing what he loved, listening to music. A music career was born.
It was also at this time that Eddie’s high school was approached by one of the local colleges to have high school students learn radio during the summer. This would not only give the high school students exposure to radio, but also enable the college students to keep the station on-air when they went home for the summer. Trunk volunteered, learning how to cue up records and run a radio board. Quickly, worried about building security, the college canned the idea mid-summer, but it was enough to light the fuse in Ed’s mind about a job in radio.
Upon graduation, Eddie attended the local community college for a brief time, but he just wasn’t into it. They didn’t even have a cool radio station! He then landed a job at a local record store in 1983, right across the street from his favorite local NJ radio station, WDHA-FM. Many of the DJs and station management often came into the record shop, and Trunk got to know many of them. As the resident “Metal Head” of the record store staff, he was always tipping off the station program director about cool hard rock he should be playing. Not knowing how to handle it, the PD resisted. Then a friend told Eddie about a “pirate” radio station, an illegal broadcast that originated from somebody’s basement. Trunk visited the station, did a few shows, and took the tapes to DHA. Although the tapes weren’t that impressive, his commitment to join DHA was. It was also around the time that heavy metal was about to explode. Quiet Riot, Def Leppard, Metallica and others were set to explode. The offer came to “hang out” at DHA for a little while. Kind of like an unpaid intern that wasn’t going to any school!
After a year or so working at the record store and radio station, Eddie started to get the itch to be on the air and presented the idea of a hard rock/heavy metal specialty show to DHA management. Nobody was doing this type of specialty show, and the station was hesitant, but finally gave in. From late 1983 through 1994, Trunk became a fixture at WDHA, the station he grew up listening to. Over the 10 years he spent at DHA (all on a part-time basis), he did almost everything you could do in radio, and actually started getting paid! He ended up hosting, producing, and programming the stations hugely popular metal show, in addition to doing regular airshifts, remote broadcasts, interviews, promotions and more.
It was in 1985 that Eddie was first approached by Johnny Z. Johnny owned an import record store called Rock & Roll Heaven, that Eddie often visited for cool new music. Johnny was starting a record label called Megaforce, and had a few bands named Metallica and Anthrax that nobody would play! Johnny new Eddie always embraced new artists and music and asked for his radio support. A year later, Trunk was asked to become one of the first employees of the newly formed Megaforce/Atlantic Records. Eddie went on to work for Megaforce (while still at DHA part time) from 1986-1990, eventually becoming Vice President of the label at 25 years old. He earned executive producer credit on several projects and worked with bands such as Anthrax, Raven, TT Quick, Manowar, Overkill, King’s X, Prophet, Icon and Ace Frehley, the same Ace that played on that great record called Destroyer more than 10 years earlier! Eddie had talked Johnny Z (who never was a Kiss fan) into finding Ace and reviving his career. Together they signed Ace to a solo deal, releasing 4 CDs including the best selling Frehley’s Comet debut. Ace and Eddie remain close friends to this day, evident by the now legendary appearences he makes on Trunk’s radio show on a regular basis. After a four-year run as a record executive, Eddie worked in artist management. He was hired for a brief time as a member of Loud & Proud Management in Brooklyn. Loud & Proud was a company that managed six acts on six different labels and also ran the legendary rock club L’Amour, a place he always hung out at. White Lion was the biggest of the company’s artists. Trunk had tried to sign the band to Megaforce a few years earlier and was an early supporter (he was the first to ever play White Lion before they released an album). He remained good friends with the members of the band, and was awarded his first gold record for the blockbuster sales of Pride live on stage in front of a packed house at L’Amour by Vito, Mike, Greg, and James. Loud & Proud also handled Tyketto, Overkill (who Trunk worked with at Megaforce as well), Tora Tora, Mitch Malloy, and a young blues guitarist named Eric Gales.
After Loud & Proud dissolved as an early victim of the coming music changes, Trunk recommitted himself to more work in radio. In 1994 the usually lame New York City radio dial was given a shot of excitement when a station called “Pure Rock Q104.3” signed on by playing AC/DC A-Z. A full-time hard rock format in NYC? Eddie couldn’t believe it! After approaching the station several times, he was hired as a DJ and found himself on the air in NYC! It started with some weekend work and led to a full-time schedule. Eddie had attempted to talk station management into letting him do a metal show similar to what he had created at DHA, but rumors of a station sale were already circulating. A year after being hired, Pure Rock Q104.3 was gone, and replaced by the new Classic Q104.3. Eddie was doing 7-midnight on Sunday nights and hosted the last shift of that now legendary Pure Rock format radio station. For that shift he ditched the playlist and played what the people wanted and the phones went nuts. Unfortunately, people had no idea that in a matter of hours, Pure Rock would be gone, and so it appeared would Trunk’s brief year in NYC radio. By doing that last shift, Eddie impressed the new incoming owners, and was one of only two members of the old airstaff retained. Needing a job, Trunk found himself going from Metallica and AC/DC one day, to CCR and Moody Blues the next. He spent two years working full time at the Classic Rock version of Q104.3, surviving several more management/ownership changes in the process and for a few months hosting full-time morning drive, the number one time slot in the number one market!
This brings us to late 1997. The legendary rock station WNEW-FM was rumored to be moving away from the classic rock format and into a more rocking direction with some new air talent. Eddie was one of the first hired under new management because of his varied experience and willingness to be a team player. He initially joined the station as an engineer and board operator, with the promise of on-air duties once the stations new direction and staff were solidified. He began his on air duties doing weekend shifts, one of which was Saturday nights 10-2. After doing the straight programmed music for about six months he began to dream of doing a similar program to his old DHA show in the country’s biggest market with 50,000 watts of power! He also recognized that NYC had no outlet for hard rock and metal and took the concept to his PD at the time. After much resistance, Eddie got his way and Saturday Night Rocks was born. Initially, the boss wanted to call the show “The Saturday Night Rock Party,” but Trunk cringed, thinking it would conjure up the idea of pop music. Saturday Night Rocks was the compromise. Another compromise was that station management had to be in charge of selecting most of the music, something Eddie protested greatly, but agreed with just to get the show on the air. After about two weeks, all of the programming, producing, and hosting of the show were in the hands of Trunk. After WNEW made a drastic flip to a talk format, Saturday Night Rocks was the only rock based music show retained. It was the premiere music show in New York City, New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut. In a short period of time the show dominated the ratings and drew raves from special guests and celebrities in the nation’s number one market. Everyone from Sopranos star Steven Van Zant to baseball star Mike Piazza all paid a visit to the show as a fan and thanked Trunk for providing a refreshing, honest, and unique style of radio mixing music and talk and interview. The list of artists who have echoed these similar words is too long to list here.
In September of 2001, WNEW added a second night of Eddie Trunk due to the overwhelming response to his Saturday show and Friday Night Rocks was born. Eddie now rocked the NYC tri-state area Friday’s from 11-2 and Saturday’s from 10-2. Baseball star and future hall of famer Mike Piazza is a regular co-host of the shows, and contributes often. It was also 2001 that Eddie played a key role as a contributor to VH1’s Top 40 Hairband Countdown, as a guest on the popular VH1 show for four hours. In November of 2001, Trunk organized and produced the NY Steel benefit concert for Police and Firefighters in the wake of September 11th. It was Eddie that talked the original Twisted Sister into reuniting for the first time in fourteen years for the event (a reunion they are still on), and also added long time friends Ace Frehley, Overkill, Anthrax, Sebastian Bach and Mike Piazza to the sold out bill. The now legendary event raised close to $100,000 for the charity and showed heavy metal in a positive light. It remains on of his single proudest accomplishments. In March of 2002, Eddie signed a deal with NYC based Excelsior Radio Networks to syndicate a new show called Rock The Nation on a national level.
In mid 2002, Eddie’s national show and his local NYC show merged, creating one program, Eddie Trunk Rocks, that is now heard in the countries number one market, in addition to other cities and online outlets. The first ever internet home for the show was secured at this time as well, with Eddie airing twice every week on the legendary www.KNAC.com. Due to a station format change at WNEW, Eddie’s show was cancelled in NYC in January of 2003 with audience and ratings at their peak. The show was picked up by NYC Classic Rock station Q104.3 (WAXQ) the following month, where Eddie had spent time from 1994-98. Eddie’s show was once again heard in the New York City tri-state area, and currently airs on Q104.3 Friday nights 11PM-2AM. Syndication is handled by Radio KG and includes other great stations including WAAF in Boston!
In July of 2001, Eddie signed his first TV contract with VH1 Classic to serve as a full time host & VJ for the channel. After a lengthy audition process it was determined he would serve as the featured male host and interviewer for VH1’s new sister channel. Trunk spent five years as the main host for VH1 Classic, interviewing a wide diverse group of artists including John Mellencamp, Rush, Carly Simon at her home, Ringo Starr, Robert Plant in the UK twice, and countless more. He also hosted the channels heavy metal and alternative rock hours. This was the dream job for the lifelong music junkie! In late 2005 VH1 decided to end studio operations for VH1 Classic and no longer would produce new original programs. In one day many were dismissed from their positions at all levels of VH1 Classic. Trunk continued to appear in repeats and in a few new shows. One of his last interviews at the time was with Kiss in LA, so it was a great way to go out from round one in television!
In July of 2004, Eddie re-launched Saturday Night Rocks due to popular demand on XM Satellite Radio. XM is the nation’s leading provider of Satellite Radio. His show aired nationwide every Saturday night 8-Midnight EST on XM channel 41 Da Boneyard. Eddie departed XM Satellite Radio in August 2005 due to philosophical differences with the then program director.
In 2006 Eddie was hired by VH1 to serve in a consulting producer capacity for the first ever VH1 Rock Honors show in Las Vegas. The program honored Kiss, Queen, Judas Priest and Def Leppard. Eddie also served as the host for a nationally syndicated radio special that tied in with the TV program and worked on many areas of the original Rock Honors show, including the assembly and direction of the Kiss tribute band that night.
In May of 2006, radio history was made as Eddie Trunk scored the first real interview with Axl Rose in nearly 15 years. Rose walked into Trunk’s radio studio unexpectedly and hung out on the air with him and his guests for over two hours making world news. Trunk became the first in over a decade to interview Axl for TV when the reclusive star appeared on That Metal Show in 2011.
In December of 2006, Trunk returned to XM satellite radio with an all new show “Eddie Trunk Live,” which airs every Monday from 6PM-10PM EST, 3-7 Pacific. As a result of the merger with Sirius in 2008, Eddie Trunk Live is now available to both Sirius and XM subscribers as part of the basic package. Eddie can be heard on Hair Nation channel 39, which is branded “Trunk Nation” during the hours his show airs. It is one of the few live music based shows on the platform and is a hybrid of music and talk / interview.
In 2007 Eddie signed on to a new TV gig as a host and interviewer for the MSG Network in NYC. MSG is the TV home of Madison Square Garden and the NY Knicks and NY Rangers and is a basic channel in over 12 million homes in the tri-state. Eddie served as an interviewer and host for music and entertainment features inside the show “MSG, NY” and also serves as host of the MSG Concert Series. Interviews have included Chris Cornell, Julliet Lewis, Meat Loaf, Peter Criss, Jesse Malin, David Coverdale, Ace Frehley, 5 Finger Death Punch, Seether, OAR, Dispatch and many more.
On August 4th 2008 Eddie Trunk was honored by legendary metal band Judas Priest for 25 years in hard rock and metal radio. Priest played a private show in his honor that was attended by invited guests and rock royalty to say thanks to the man that has supported them for so long. It took place at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square and is now legend for the lucky that attended and saw Priest with 500 others that night! The evening also featured a roast video that can be viewed on this site and many special guests from the world of rock and comedy. All friends of Eddie who assembled on the red carpet that night to salute his support and accomplishments in music for a quarter century. In 2013 some of the biggest names in rock assembled again at The Hard Rock to celebrate 30 years of Trunk on the radio. This event proved to be historic as it marked the first time in 13 years (and likely last time) Ace Frehley and Peter Criss performed live together.
In October 2008 Eddie Trunk returned to VH1 Classic as host of a brand new show he developed and co-produces called “That Metal Show”. He is joined by co-hosts, comics, and good friends Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson in a weekly hour talk show that deals with all things hard rock and metal and features guests such as Rush, AC/DC, Ace Frehley, Mike Piazza, Lita Ford, Twisted Sister, Yngwie Malmsteen, Mike Portnoy, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Zakk Wylde, Heaven & Hell and many more. The show began airing 11/15/08 at 11PM on VH1 Classic with a new episode every Saturday night. To date the show has completed 14 seasons and various specials. That Metal Show is the longest running program in VH1 history, has over 120 episodes recorded, and is seen around the globe. In 2016 VH1 Classic changed to MTV Classic. TMS production was suspended.
Eddie was honored to serve as the MC for Dio’s Memorial service in Los Angeles My 30th 2010. In April of 2011. He continues to be active in helping to support and raise funds for the Dio Cancer Fund each year. In 2011 Eddie earned the first ever “Long Live Rock & Roll” award at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles for his work and support of the Dio Cancer Fund. He continues to work with the Dio Cancer Fund charity on a yearly basis.
Eddie released his first ever book titled Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock & Heavy Metal through Abrams Image in 2011. A sequel (Vol 2) was released in 2013.
In 2014 the Eddie Trunk Podcast was launched via PodcastOne. The weekly podcast has become a regular weekly top 10 download on Apple Podcasts. It is also available free via Spotify and www.PodcastOne.com
In October 2016 Eddie became one of 3 daily live radio shows on the newly launched SiriusXM 24/7 music talk channel called Volume (106). Eddie is heard live daily Monday-Friday 2-4PM ET (replay 10-Mid ET) taking calls, doing interviews, and providing commentary on all things rock with a wide variety of the biggest names in rock. He also broadcasts monthly from the patio of the Rainbow Bar & Grill in Los Angeles with a live studio audience and some of the biggest names in rock. In August of 2022 Eddie’s show Trunk Nation was moved to Faction Talk SiriusXM channel 103. It is now heard on that channel as well as various outlets on the app. Trunk Nation makes rock news daily with Eddie’s many guests and interviews.
In 2016 Eddie was named host of a new documentary film series Real To Reel on AXS TV. The series airs weekly and focuses on docs in all genres of music. In August of 2017 Eddie signed on to AXS TV for a new TBA series debuting in early 2018.
July 1st 2018 AXS TV debuted TrunkFest hosted by Eddie Trunk. In this brand new TV series Eddie takes viewers on a tour of experiences at music festivals around the world. The program lasted 2 seasons and replays regularly on the network
Eddie has appeared in and consulted on countless music based TV programs. Most recently the Dio documentary which he appears in and many music based productions for Reelz channel.
Eddie Trunk continues his crusade to keep radio fresh, content driven, live and exciting, and play the music he loves. He is currently heard on two national radio shows and seen on MTV Classic, AXS TV and various other outlets. He has also appeared on MTV several times and on Fox News Channel, YES Network, SNY, ESPN Radio, and worked as a freelance music journalist, boxing ring announcer, and MC for various concerts and rock events around the USA. He is the host of America’s biggest rock festival Rocklahoma in Pryor OK every June, as well as countless rock events on a weekly basis. He also tours both solo and with his TMS partners Don & Jim doing speaking engagements around the US, and has also made appearances in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica and more. His other interests include movies and sports (NY Giants, Nets, Rangers, & Mets). He continues to live in NJ with his wife, two children, and cat.
