rock thiz magazine_rock_thiz_magazine_issue_2_dec

2 | Rock Thiz Magazine | Issue 2

Rock Thiz MagazineLisa Snyder (NE) President-Founder

Donald Snyder (NE) Co-owner

Eva Trudeau (MI)writer & editor

Yvonne Laughlin (TX) Columnist

Sister Karen Rock(OH) Journalist

Scott Koneferenisi(CA) Journalist

Sherry Thomas (PA) Journalist

Scott Ward (MI) Photo Journalist

Katy Murphy (FL) Journalist

Elizabeth Valla (NE ) Journalist/model

Sherri Cunningham(KS)Journalist

Danielle Adams (CA) Journalist & editor

James Bruner (AZ) Photo Journalist

Ronald Gelber (AZ) Journalist

Michael Spleet (MI) PhotograPher

Barbra Porter (CA)Contributing PhotograPher

Allen Mealey (CA) PhotograPhy & Video

Marc Davison (Canada)editorial design & editor

Jax Mandrake (MI) CritiC & Columnist

John Fowler (TN) CritiC

Jr. Interns:Zoe Reindl (Canada ) musiC reViews

All Content © Rock Thiz Magazine exceptwhere used by permission.

Rock Thiz MagazineCover Story: Mike Esterman: Agent to the Stars 10

Interviews:Anvil: Godfathers of Canadian Metal 5

Metal Motivation: Spreading Metalosophy 6

Dan Lawrence: From Designer to Luthier 8

Jessica Rose Van Thorne: Pin-up Princess 12

Denise Ames: Up front and personal 14

Album Reviews: 15

Back and Inside cover photos courtesy: Jessica Rose Photography

3Issue 2 | Rock Thiz Magazine |

New Rules Jax Mandrake

I shamelessly admit t hat comedia n Bi l l Maher is one of my heroes, because when he has an opinion he is never afraid to speak his mind. I love his New Rules segment from his HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher, and I have some of my own to propose.

Jingle Hells:New Rule: Shop-

ping centers are not allowed to play holiday music before Thanks-giving or after Christ-mas Day. I’d prefer to limit the holiday music per iod t o bet ween December 15 and 24, and I ’ve met more than a few people who would love to constrict that period to about 48 hours, but as a matter of compromise I will allow them to stretch it out to Black Friday so that the stores can put their holiday shop-pers in the mood to trample each other on time. However, any earlier or later and you deserve to lose business. I can clearly recall one year during my retail tenure when the store offices decid-ed it would be a good idea to start playing holiday music in Sep-tember and not stop it until halfway into January. Said offices got tons of angry let-ters and emails, and it hasn’t happened since. Thus you see the posi-t ive aspect of term limits. This holiday

limit should also apply to advertisements and programs on TV and radio, and that Christ-mas in July crap that everybody does every year is nothing short of irritating.

Biggly Wiggly:New Rule: You are

not a l lowed to use motorized shopping carts just because you are fat and lazy. Those are there for use by old and broken peo-ple only. If your ass is so huge and heavy that you can’t haul it around a grocery store that is a possible indi-cation that maybe you shouldn’t buy so many bags of pork rinds, five-quart pails of ice cream and pallets of beer. Conversely, it could be a signal that you ought to st reng t hen your legs, build your endur-ance and even shed some of that immensi-ty by - oh, I don’t know - walking around a bit. It’s a different matter if you brought your own scooter with a basket. That tells me that you are legitimately bro-ken and have milked the system adequately, proving that you have enough balls to get something done.

Car and Drivel:New Rule: If your

vehicle consistently requires more than one lane of traffic to com-plete a turn, then it has an obvious mechani-cal flaw: it needs a new driver.

Yvonne’s World Yvonne Laughlin

Featured Artist – Against All Will

Against All Will is a new rock band from Los Angeles, Califor-nia formed by guitar-ist and principal song-w riter Jimmy A llen – an original member of the band Puddle of Mudd – The band consists of four great members of four great bands blended all in one...Jeff Current, lead vocals (former mem-ber - Seven Story Drop) Jimmy Allen (Lead Gui-tar - co-founder of Pud-dle of Mudd) Cello Dias (Bass former member of Soulfly ), Steve Wil-son (Drums -former member of The Dead Kennedys) which make up the perfect ingre-dients that forms. . . . Against All Will

W hat c a n I say, when Against All Will was brought to my attention, I couldn’t help take the time to

listen to every song they put out! The first song/v ideo I heard was “The Drug I Need”

and from there, I was hooked! This single is so well done, the vocals are perfectly consis-tency, the lyrics are awesome and speak volumes on their own and the instrumentals are incredible. Against All Will radio-friendly rock songs with huge choruses and melodies that linger long after the music has stopped.

The band is as fresh as they sound; their energy, chemistry, and passion, combining to create a phenomenal musical whirlw ind. While most Los Ange-les outfits are filled via open auditions or by hired guns, Against All Will was filled through referrals and recom-mendations - chemis-try was critical, and the personalities need-ed to fit just as secure-ly as the players. New debut album “A Rhyme

& Re a son” (2009) . In March 2010, AAW released t he single “All about you,” (writ-

ten by Jeff Current and Jimmy Allen) and most recently in July “The Drug I need”. A AW launched a national radio campaign and it’s already receiving great response, includ-ing hitting number one in some of the active radio rock charts in US.

The band is head-ing into the studio in Hollywood this month with Paul Fig (Def-tones, AIC, Stone Sour) and Dave Bianco (Tom Petty, Ozzy, Bob Dylan) to work on songs for the follow up to “A Rhyme & Reason” The band is very excited to work with such talent-ed recording pros.

Jimmy Allen quotes “For a band that’s not on a major label we are very lucky to be work-ing with these guys.”

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The Ludovico TechniqueThe MADcHATTER

It is not often that I do a review of an Industrial band. Most people know Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein, Kraftwerk, and Ministry. Well, there are a lot more industrial bands out there then you may be aware of.

The Ludovico Technique is an American band from Orlando, Florida taking their name from the obscure men-tal conditioning/human pro-gramming described in the legendary Stanley Kubrick film ‘A Clockwork Orange’. They released a self-titled EP earlier this year that my son Jaymes introduced me to when he was working as their roadie.

The five song EP is a son-ic attack on the senses and displays the artistic depth that can be achieved through electronic media. The emo-tion that runs through these songs reaches into your gut through your ears and pulls it out kicking and screaming. The band consists of Ben V- (vocals/ music), Jayson Fiend

(synth), Virus - (synth), Simon B. (drums). They describe their music as ‘highlight-ing the dark aspects of the human condition as well as the depths to which man’s mind can deteriorate.’

The thing I find most inter-esting about this band is their lack of dependence on gui-tars. They prove conclusively you do not need them to be a badass rock band. Not that a guitar wouldn’t help once in a while mind you...they just do not need it. Some of the songs share a similar struc-ture and form, the phased sounding vocals sometimes run through the same pat-tern making the lyrics hard to understand. What this group could do with professional studio time would be amaz-ing. Displaying inf luences ranging from Skinny Puppy to Combichrist they draw their inspiration the way poison is drawn from a wound. Songs like ‘Heal my Scars’ and ‘This Life’ are good examples of the pulsing driving beat influence of ‘Psyclon 9’ with hooks only

found in a deranged mind ripped apart by life’s cruel-ties. This music is not for the average metal head or angst ridden teen to partake of. This is dementia, wrapped in disturbia, buried in dam-nation and submerged like a donut into a cup of despair. It kicks ass!

The blending of tech-nical elements with dark synths and distorted vocals on ‘Devotion’ is typical of the genre but it works to their advantage. They recently added some songs to their MySpace page and word is their working on an upcom-ing album. The song ‘Then I Found You’ shows how the band is developing a more ref lective and philosophi-cal bent to their songwrit-ing. The gothic harmonies in the song add to the overall mystique and I’ll be damned if it just doesn’t work! They also have a preview of a song called ‘Beyond Therapy’ that would make any shrink crawl into a fetal position and down the meds he would normally

prescribe his patients. If this band is picked up

by a major label and provid-ed with the studio time and equipment they need there is no telling the creative heights (or depths) they could reach. Be forewarned there is anoth-er band from Cheyenne, Wyo-ming using the same name.

Keep an eye on these guys!

Check them out here: theludovicotechnique.comfacebook.com/theludovicotechniquemyspace.com/theludovicotechnique

Alice Sweet AliceThe MADcHATTER

To say I hadn’t heard of Alice Sweet Alice is some-thing of an understatement. Other then Europe this seems to be a reoccurring theme for this foursome from Kansas City, MO. And this is some-thing they want to change.

Alice Sweet Alice refers to their music as ‘electropost-punkadelic’. Wow…probably not the ‘supercalifragilistic-expialidocious’ type of term I would use. Others call it ‘darkwave’. Some say when you cannot define your own sound it ’s usually an indi-cation that your music is

indefinable. And the think-ing goes - indefinable makes it ‘special’.

I have a selfish need to examine music so I took some time to listen to the music. Approaching it with an open mind, open ears and a rabid predisposition to define the ‘indefinable’ I put on my head-phones and dove in. Before I get to my conclusions let’s take a quick look at the band.

Alice Sweet Alice consists of mult i-instrumentalists Scott Martinez (Bass/Gui-tars/Vocals), Ali Kat, (Pia-no/Synths/Vocals) & Billy Brown, (Drums/Vocals) with

Ron Bales, as their touring guitarist. The list of influenc-es on their bio, while impres-sive, doesn’t really hint at a direction. Joy Division, Gar-bage, Siouxsie and the Ban-shees, Love and Rockets, The Cure, Echo & The Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, Evanes-cence etc. The band is only three years old, as their web-site claims, and they have released two albums and a live CD so far. Not bad for a young group just starting out. They claim Top 15 Certifica-tion by the IAIRA for their single ‘Glass Houses’. I’m curious as to what musical

category they achieved this certification.

It ’s obvious to me that they are trying to create ‘atmospheric’ music. Try-ing to paint a ‘landscape in the mind’ using concepts similar to Dave Greenslade’s ‘The Pentateuch of The Cos-mogony’ without the help of Phil Collins, or Pink Floyds ‘Obscured by Clouds’ album without Rick Wright. Appar-ently driven by Martinez’s direction many of their songs just sort of ‘lay’ there. The deep guttural intonations and use of synths as ambient

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AnvilEva M. Trudeau

‘Lips’ as he is known to many a metal head, is the gui-tarist and vocalist of the ev-er-popular “Anvil”. They have received a resurgence in pop-ularity with their documen-tary, “Anvil: The Story of An-vil” It garnered the metal trio many film awards, and a jump start to their music careers.

I had to chance over the phone, to sit down and dis-cuss the current happenings with. Since their most recent tour last winter, Anvil now is in post-production of their 14th release, “Juggernaut of Justice.” Here is how it went:

Tell us the latest about Juggernaut of Justice. You have been record-ing at Dave Grohl’s 606 Studio with Legendary Producer Bob Marlette of Black Sabbath and Al ice Cooper fame. How is that coming along with Bob?

It’s finally done. It will be in stores spring 2011.

In light of your docu-mentary and all the ac-colades it has received, it seems that Anvil tru-ly has stood the test of time. On many levels, the audience can relate to your story, because every musician, or in my case, musician’s wife can relate to it. Have you been told this by the fans?

Yes, on a consistent basis. Many were inspired by our tenacity and not wanting to give up. It’s pretty amazing to be part of that.

I saw your show last winter at the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac,

MI. The audience went nuts chanting “Anvil!” Have you been receiv-ing that sort of recep-tion everywhere you play at?

Actually the response has been overwhelming and warm. It’s an incredible jour-ney. It all seemed to work out well, and we are thrilled to be living the dream. You can’t just want something. You have to go after it and physi-cally participate in making it happen. Then you have a chance. It’s like going to the casino. You aren’t going to win unless you put money in the machines. That’s how it happens and eventually you will.

Have you noticed that Metal is experiencing a “renaissance?” It’s in the forefront as much as it was back in the 1980’s. What are your feelings about this?

I am kind of oblivious. If it is, great! Beyond that, I don’t follow trends, they come and go. Metal is more of a way of life, not a trend.

Congratulat ions on your new deal with The End Records. It hap-pened within the last few weeks, at press time. Is it everything you have hoped for?

To be honest, it’s just an-other record deal. Do I look forward to having someone taking most of the pie? I am used to it. I don’t have much of a choice. Otherwise, how are the fans going to hear my music? The way the music in-dustry works is that the band pays everything, so that the fans can hear their music. You have to sell hundreds of thou-sands of copies before you see money. It’s the record compa-nies’ job, to the sell the music. Am I excited? It’s a wonderful thing. We have a plan in place, most bands don’t.

Will Anvil be making videos in support of the new album Jug-gernaut of Justice and a subsequent tour? (Hopefully by summer of 2011)

Well, I would imagine that we will tour. As far videos, we

don’t know. We hope to tour. Right now, nothing has been set in place.

Would you like to give a shout- out to the Facebook Anvil Street Team? Robbo has.

That’s our good friend Dalila Kriheli . She is amaz-ing, helping us out. She is a wonderful person. She is a great photographer. We love our fans, and Dalila Krihe-li has done a lot of promot-ing for Anvil. She is living the dream with us, and we wish her nothing but the best.

Tell us about your gui-tar. Is it the October Flying V? Do you play through a semi hollow body? Do you use the Tokai Distortion pedal to this day? I know; lots of questions!

Well, to break it down, I use my own custom made guitar that was made 30 years ago. My other guitar, the Gibson Vegas High Roller, is a semi-hollow. That is ba-sically what I use. I still use Tokai Pedals. I’ve done quite a bit of experimentation with many brands of pedals. At one time, Boss pedals made a Distortion DS1 that had vir-tually the same circuitry as the Tokai. The only way to get those tones now is to get a To-kai. Anything else I have tried does not work the same way.

What does music mean you?

Music is life blood to me. I couldn’t live with out it. I be-lieve it puts time and place into perspective. I can hear an old song and tell you where I was and what I was doing when that particular song


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Metal Motivation: Spreading Metalosophy to the Masses

Eva M. Trudeau

Special Thanks to: Yvonne Laughlin

Metal Motivation is not just a state of mind; it ’s a

state of wellness and being. It is self-empowerment in to-day’s Modern World, as told through the teachings of C.J. Ortiz and Todd Holland. They can be heard on Pure Rock Radio in the morning and on You Tube throughout the day. I recently sat down with C.J. and Todd to discuss what ex-actly ‘Metal Motivation’ is about. I walked away quite enlightened. Read the follow-ing interview, and judge for yourself.

Metal Motivation are:CJ Ortiz and Todd Pack

Would you tell us about the theory behind Met-al Motivation?

CJ: We refer t o ou r ou t l o ok a s “ m e t a l o s o -phy,” and the meaning is

very straightforward—as straightforward as the music that influences us. It’s about maximizing your resources in every area of life by living aggressively in a merciless world. We believe that too much of so-called “personal development,” or motivation-al teaching, focuses on un-provable, magical thinking. That speaks of the universe as if it’s this great treasure chest just waiting to shower success on you.

Todd: But, we believe that most people are smart enough to know that life can be brutal, challenging, and very difficult to confront. Life will stare down at you and steam roll you, if you don’t meet it with healthy aggres-sion, strategy, hard work, and consistent follow through. We’re positive about the po-tential resident in people but realistic about what needs to be overcome in order for

them to tap it.

In Eastern Philosophy, displacement of ego is one of the precepts. Do you find this relevant in your approach to life?

CJ: We are “Sons of the West,” so we would disagree with a great deal in the East-ern Traditions. As much as passions and desires can be destructive, there are far more healthy drives in all of us that have lead to problem-solving, creativity, industry, and innovation. We do not ad-vocate that the primary pur-suit of life is inner-peace or a freedom from suffering and existence. The world is bro-ken and unjust and we be-lieve that a healthy rage—or righteous indignation—will fuel our souls to take action in order to help make a dif-ference. We’re not advocat-ing violence. We just don’t push people to seek solace

and introspection in a Ti-betan temple. We want to challenge them to dive head first into a world in need of world-changers!

What are some of the central principles you teach?

Todd: Well, we don’t teach magical thinking. We don’t tell people to visualize their way to success, although some visualization can be helpful. We don’t teach “mind over matter,” or any so-called law that we can’t prove. If anything, we teach “mind over your own lazy ass!”

CJ: It ’s important to us that people understand that our goal is to create powerful, self-governing men and wom-en that are maximizing every bit of who they are. The dif-ference, as Todd mentioned, is that we stick with proven principles of achievement. There’s no guesswork in what

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we put out there.

How did you two meet?

Todd: We met in 1984 at a rock club in Dallas, Texas. Since we were both the only two guys with long hair and leather jackets in the club, we naturally ended up meet-ing and hanging out that night. That led to a two-year span of partying and plotting what we wanted to do musi-cally. Dallas was not a serious metal town at the time, so we were looking elsewhere (New York City and L.A.) as viable options to relocate in order to play heavier music.

CJ: In 1986, we parted ways to pursue different di-rections, and it was 23 years before we spoke again.

How did you two meet up again?

CJ: In July of 2008, I searched and found Todd on a MySpace page for a Dallas tribute band. I sent him a mes-sage which he responded to a few days later and we finally spoke on a hot, Sunday after-noon in mid-July. The conver-sation lasted four hours.

Is this when Metal Moti-vation was discussed?

Todd: In a sense, yes it was. We were discussing ways in which I could leave my current position and pur-sue something related to the heavy metal community. I told C.J. about several ideas I had ranging from opening a bar to selling metal t-shirts. He told me what we had been doing in relation to personal develop-ment, and it was at that mo-ment that he suggested com-bining heavy metal with life achievement principles. I had recently read about how large the self-help industry was, so I thought it was a good idea to pursue. It seemed to me to be an obvious fit, since most

of us metal heads get pumped up when listening to aggres-sive music.

Wow. That’s not that long ago. How did it develop from there?

CJ: It began as a t-shirt idea. We were going to put edgy words of wisdom on t-shirts with some brutal art-work and try and promote the idea of “metal motiva-tion.” Soon I began to feel like this could be much bigger than t-shirts. I’d done a lot of writing, speaking, counsel-ing, consulting, and coaching over the years, so I thought a better approach would be to actually write a book and then build other items like t-shirt on a clearly stated ver-sion of our metalosophy.

“If anything, w e t e a c h ‘mind over y o u r o w n lazy ass!’”

Todd: The problem we ran into was that we had no audience or reputation. No one knew who we were, so whether it was a good idea or not, we didn’t think any serious publisher would be interested us. So, we consid-ered self-publishing, but even then, we still needed an audi-ence to reach. We finally put the book aside and launched a blog-based web site. That way we could develop the content while building an audience. We were both on MySpace and Facebook, so we decided we would promote the site to our current friend lists.

But you guys are known for your videos and ra-dio spots. How did you

get to that point?

CJ: We launched the site on Halloween of 2009. We did it by starting a Facebook fan page and creating a YouTube Channel. To make the an-nouncement more dramatic, we shot a quick video to post on the site and announce on Facebook. From Halloween to the first of January, we were only able to accumulate 280 fans. Then, we decided to take our existing blog posts and turn them into videos. After that, things exploded.

Todd: Like with every-thing we do, we follow our own principle of “seizing op-portunities.” That’s really how Metal Motivation oper-ates. We plan in pencil and re-vise as we go along. For exam-ple, the videos naturally led to our 2-3 minute radio spots. As the opportunities arose, we seized them!

Do you have any sto-ries that demonstrate how you ’ve he lped someone in crisis?

Todd: There are a few stories, but we hate to take credit for being the sole rea-son someone overcame some-thing. We see our role as equippers and coaches help-ing people discover, under-stand, and maximize their own resources. We were able to help inspire a metal vocal-ist to overcome a substance addiction. He’s still sober to this day.

CJ: The other aspect is our function as consultants. I have an old friend that I was able to work with to help develop his own opera-tion which combined his love of hunting and the outdoors with fathering. We were able to help name, design, and craft the vision and branding as well as get him launched on social media. So far, so

good. He’s moving even faster than we did.

Are there other av-enues you’d l ike to pursue?

Todd: Absolutely. We have no limits. We still want to publish some books, but we’ll also be working on some new video concepts that will be more cinematic. The goal there is to really expand on YouTube and hopefully get some sponsorship to help fund further projects. Every-thing we’ve done thus far has been at our own expense.

CJ: I’d also like to do some seminars. I’ve done a lot of public speaking over the years, so we could put on some Metal Motivation events that we could film and burn to DVD for wider distribution.

Those would a l l be great. So, just for fun, let me ask you what metal bands you listen to?

Todd: Wow. That’s hard to answer, but I like the newer bands like Fear Factory, Lamb of God, White Chapel, Opeth, and Mudvayne, as well as all the old school bands like Ju-das Priest, older Metallica, Testament, and Slayer.

CJ: I agree with Todd—that’s a tough one to answer because we love all metal. I like the same bands as Todd, but I would add Overkill, Ex-odus, Shadows Fall and then some of the crossover hard-core outfits like Hatebreed, Madball, Agnostic Front, Ter-ror, and Throwdown.

Metal Motivation Online:metalmotivation.comyoutube.com/MetalMotivation


Dan LawrenceDan Lawrence is a

Luthier and an entre-preneur. His guitars, all handcrafted works of art, resting in the corners of jam spac-es, admired by many. When in action, you’ll see his guitars being wielded as weapons of sonic destruction by a new breed of rock stars the world over.

I read your bio, what made you d e c i d e t o g o from drawing to Luthier?

I think just from being in the business so long. You just get a passion for the guitars themselves, and when an opportunity came along to purchase the GMP® trademark, I grabbed it! GMP gui-tars were originally owned by GM Preci-sion and were in busi-ness for 15 years, 1990-2005. This op-portunity inspired me to start building gui-tars. Up until then, I re-ally had no intention of building per se; I do a lot of repairs and have done countless repairs over the years, piece parting guitars togeth-er for people, etc. But the majority is just do-ing the custom paint jobs and graphics for all the industry. When the GMP® trademark became available I thought what a great opportunity, I had al-ways admired them, it would be cool to bring them back so I did and started building GMPs in January 2010. All

these years I’ve paint-ed and built guitars for other people, with their ideas and imag-es and now I can paint whatever I want, on my own guitars, so it’s win/win! I’ve been do-ing this for over 26 years now, I see guitars come through and we say “oh it would be cool if it was done this way” or “I would have used a different binding or a different paint job” and we say “let’s do it that way” and we do.

This has to be an absolutely love-able job.

Oh yeah, I have a blast! I meet so many different types of peo-ple. I’m sure you have

an idea being in the same industry, as far as the players, bands, the people behind the scenes etc., I work with a broad spectrum of people and there is va-riety in each day.

So, you don’t just do the Luthier, you create pieces of art that play music? I find that interesting be-cause that’s not actual ly some-t h i n g , eve n i n some of the more custom designed guitars, you see anymore.

There are very few of us, the “graphic art-ist” guitar painters that do this. People

come in and out of the industry through the years. There are a cou-ple that are still doing the custom paint work for the bigger compa-nies, Fender and Jack-son, etc.

You have been into art since you were a kid draw-ing with crayons. How did you get started at Char-vel Jackson?

I started in the ma-chine shop at Charvel when I was still going to my college classes.

H o w d i d y o u go f rom ar t to machinist?

Well, my father was an iron worker by trade

and he wanted me to get into that industry, I tried it but just hated it. So I finished all my schooling! I learned how to weld in that in-dustry and I got tired of it so I quit that job, not to mention I was bumping heads with the owner. So since I had a little bit of a ma-chinist background I applied for jobs as cus-tom fabricator. Iron work on high rises, anything that was met-al fabricated related. Then when I started at Charvel I was making the truss rods, pick-up bobbins and just all the crazy stuff. An oppor-tunity came up when their graphic guy was going back to school so we traded places, and there it began.

W h a t p r o c e s s goes into making a guitar?

For me, from be-ing around it for so long, the type of wood: where it comes from, grain structure. Then you start cutting it up, from there you want wood to have good tonal properties and if you can read the grain well you can usual-ly get yourself a good piece that will reso-nate and hold a good vibration. You know as the strings vibrate that resonation will trans-fer into the wood and that’s what you look for. From there you match neck pieces to bodies; I look at grain patterns

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Dan LawrenceContinued from previous page

and listen to the tones, etc… GMP’s are set neck this is where the neck is glued in, so it’s similar to one piece, but not to be confused with a bolted on. First the wood is selected; the paint and/or finishes always come after-wards, unless it’s a natural figure top. I have picked some nice figured 5A wood tops, nothing but the best! I’ve learned many things over the years, and I apply them to all the guitars we make now.

Is there a particular wood that works best for guitar?

There are many different kinds of wood, and the differ-ent woods provide different tonal properties, and distinc-tive sound characteristics that we can provide for the customer. Many players have

an idea of what sounds good, and some don’t, so we try to steer them in the right direc-tion. Then there are those that go online and read about stuff and they want a solid maple body with an invader pick-up in it, just because their fa-vorite musician plays a simi-lar guitar. They don’t realize that they are playing through a different rig and the bodies

are made of different woods, there’s just not a lot of infor-mation out there for the gui-tar players to follow. They hear and they see and they think “I want that” then they go on the site to build a gui-tar and they are picking stuff that’s off the wall. So we try to assist them with what they want and steer them to what they need to fulfill their want.

We try to educate.

So if somebody was to come to you wanting to become an apprentice, what classes would you require them to take?

I would recommend they go to Musicians Institute. They go through and teach you how to build a guitar, teach the fundamentals and elements. Or any type of wood working classes so you can get familiar with how wood is, how it’s shaped, and how it’s sanded, etc. I’ve had quite a few friends who have hired people in their shops, some better than others, from Musicians Institute though.

Dan Lawrence Onlinegmpguitars.comdrlgrafx.com facebook.com/gmpguitars facebook.com/drlgraphics

Alice Sweet AliceContinued from page 4

background are accom-panied by monotone vocals and the musical arrange-ment seems like an attempt to recapture the psychedelic portion of Ted Nugent’s sig-nature song ‘Stranglehold’. I must admit I was uninspired. This might explain its pop-ularity overseas, but most Americans probably aren’t into ‘music to slowly melt your brain by’ since almost no one drops acid anymore.

‘Legends of the Po’ and ‘Glass Houses’ sound like blasé angst without the real underlying reasons to hate your parents! Lyrically it’s not bad, but in the end I feel more of a need to sleep than to start wearing black. I just want to yell at him to get some F*&!#% passion! His style doesn’t change with the music of each song, it’s the

same vocal pattern over and over again. There is very little difference in his vocal deliv-ery on songs like ‘Great White Lie’ ‘Blood Rose’, or ‘Alone’…or any song he sings lead on!

Ali Kat is almost the polar opposite of Scott. When she sings lead, like she does on ‘Weeping Lily’, oh my! She embraces the mood of the

song and sings with passion. She reminds me of Natalie Merchant ala ‘10,000 Mani-acs’ she has more of a vocal presence and projects the emotional depth this music is dependent on. American audiences would respond a lot better to Alice Sweet Alice if Ali took the vocal lead on more songs. If both she and

Scott split the vocal duties Alice Sweet Alice might be able to achieve a balance that would appeal to European and American fans. If they like him in Europe, they’ll like her in the States. That might just be how you capture the world.

Bottom Line: If you like ambient, dark/

new wave then check out Alice Sweet Alice. Their albums are cheap and might liven up a wake if needed. I can see why they would be popular in Europe and not stateside and apparently many of you can as well. There is one ray of hope though, this band is young, they are learning and evolving and in time may be able to achieve a balance that will allow them to be success-ful on both sides of the pond.

I don’t recommend these CD’s beyond saying they cost less than their t-shirts do!

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10| Rock Thiz Magazine | Issue 2

Mike EstermanMike Esterman is

the supreme ex-ample of a great

booking agent. Not only is he tenacious in his work, he does it with honesty and a sense of honor that is rare in industry dealings these days. He be-lieves in being involved in ev-ery aspect of a deal from start to finish, making sure the cli-ent is well taken care of. Mike is a hardworking man in a hard business. Our own Ra-mona managed to snag an in-terview with this impressive agent and man.

So without further ado...Let’s start with when your

career started out at sixteen and go from there. You start-ed your career as a dancer on American Bandstand, which was quite the sensation back then.

B efore s ta r r ing on American Bandstand, how long had you been a dancer before, what age did you first start dancing?

When I started as a danc-er it was merely a hobby and something I loved and en-joyed to do, at around 17, 18 years old was when I start-ed dancing at the local night clubs.

Was dancing some-thing you wanted to pursue professionally?

Dancing to me was merely something fun to do; I loved the exercise and just the feel-ing of the music inside my body.

When you began work-ing in hospitality and hosting events at the venues, did you ever see yourself as working at this long term, as an eventual career?

I was a VIP host at a local nightclub and assisting the celebrities that were booked t here by show ing t hem around the dinner places, sound checks and hotels. That is how I got to know the celeb-rities on a personal basis.

Did you expect it to branch out into some-thing so huge in the beginning and when it did turn into something big, were your goals to make who you repre-sented becomemore successful and perhaps better promoted?

I would have never imag-ined that what I have done would have become what it is today; I just always set my own goals and limits, made sure that I kept an honest rapport with the clients that I booked.

I only promoted myself as a plan in where to find a di-rect source in booking the talent. I don’t really promote the celebrities, make them famous, they are already fa-mous on their own.

RTM: Throughout your bio, you’ve told how you got your start, developed con-t ac t s, maint ained work-ing relationships with art-ist managements, dealing with everything openly and honestly and having a busi-ness plan so you can oper-ate at your greatest capacity but you’ve never stated any-where whether you have to have a certain education in your field.

Did you have to have a certain degree in promotion and book-ing in order to be tak-en seriously, is that

something you can learn in a classroom?

In this field there aren’t any classes or courses you can actually take. There can be a lot of politics involved when booking celebrities these days; I have to say it has all been so-called, on-the-job training. You just can’t learn this stuff in textbooks.

Most agents in the same field don’t even come close to what you’ve done in your career, is there any branch of be-ing a booking agent or promoter you wouldn’t feel comfortable doing at all or wouldn’t want to do?

I generally stick with the feed offers that come in to book talent. I stay away from the promoter side of the busi-ness. Promoters are the ones

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that take the artists to events and appearances. That is an area that one has to be more geographically savvy and an area where I would not know what works best for them.

RTM: You are a one man operation, when you first be-came your own business you had a list of contacts you al-ready established.

Do you ever feel it’s too overwhelming or want-ed help in handling cli-ents? Is it more impor-tant to have a one on one relationship with your clients?

The main issue is having such proprietary contact in-formation that just can’t be handled by anyone else but me. I think that staying in control of those contacts and relationships is important and I would not feel comfort-able risking them being taken by an employee if they left my company.

It may be a long and te-dious job to handhold ev-ery aspect of each deal, but I know the ins and outs of the talent buyers or what kind of talent they need.

RTM: You’re very well-known and experienced at promoting celebrities and have a 100% success rate with your clients.

Ever had a client that has needed to rebuild not only the agent/cli-ent relationship but their reputation as a celebrity as well?

Yes, over and over. I don’t usually have to rebuild their reputation. It’s usually more of an agent relationship that I need to help rebuild. Some find that their agents have not been truthful or honest with them regarding payments for something, or they wait

too long to respond and lose deals. Sometimes it just is simply a matter of not being a good fit for the client at hand. There are many reasons why they might come to me, in the end there are a number of dif-ferent reasons why someone may need my services.

As a successful agent experienced in pro-mot ing celebri t ies , how do you, Mike Es-terman, promote your-self now and how did you promote yourself in the beginning of your career?

In the beginning of this roller coaster ride of a ca-reer, advertising was merely by word of mouth and still is for the most part from the cli-ents who are always paid on time, and know exactly what to expect when they’ve been booked for something be-cause I make sure they have all the details.

Most of today’s advertis-ing of the Esterman brand is by weekly e-mail blasts and updates, my website, and of course being active in spread-ing the Esterman name.

There are a few other

major or developing factors in the works that will always bring Esterman to the fore-front of what we do in book-ing celebrity clients world-wide and global.

RTM: I hear all the time it’s all about who you know in the music business.

Do you think, consid-ering your start as a dancer in a Maryland club, that it’s still how you know?

The music side of the busi-ness is a whole other beast that I will never seem to un-derstand and has taken new directions that I will never be able to keep up with there-fore I stay out of the music business as a rule (laughing).

Out of all the areas of entertainment you’ve worked in, where do you feel most success-ful as a celebrity agent a n d w h e r e d o yo u feel like you want to improve?

I am an ‘attention to de-tail’ type of agent, sure I may make mistakes from time to time, after all, we’re only hu-man, but there’s always room for improvement. There are always new ideas that come about on a weekly or daily ba-sis and achieving those goals is something I always have in mind.

Yo u ’ ve m e n t i o n e d challenges that you’ve faced in the begin-ning of your career; what aspects of the job come more naturally to you now?

The fact that people know Esterman is a straight shoot-er and one of the most honest agents if you want a real an-swer in any fast manner. In the beginning I had to work hard to prove myself.

Who’s been your favor-ite artist to work with, anyone in particular?

Some that stand out are Mario Lopez, Carmen Elec-tra, Daisy of the Daisy of Love show, Ashley from Charm School, Ron Jeremy, Gary Dourdan from CSI, and so many more.

What brings the ce-lebrities you work with the most recognition and revenue and is the most beneficial to their career?

The goal if they are music artists or actors and actress-es, is to make them a house-hold name. Reality stars on various shows and networks gain the most recognition by personal appearances, keep-ing their names and faces on various f lyers and signage around the country.

Do you think you would do anything different if you could go back and choose to be a profes-sional dancer instead?

Professional dancer? I’m not that good. I don’t think you would see me on danc-ing with the stars anytime soon. Maybe I’m just cut out to do what I’m doing now as an agent. You have to have the right mind set and not many people can deal with the day to day politics that are involved in this end of the industry. I have a lot in the works that perhaps will bring me in more directions to come and perhaps will be around another 10 years.

Find more information and cont act det ails for Mike Esterman at

www.Esterman.com

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Jessica Rose Van Thorne: Pin-up Princess

Danielle Adams

Jessica Rose is taking the world by storm and fighting her way

to the top, from her home town of Valencia, CA to Holly-wood and beyond. At her re-markable age she holds a BA in Finance and International Business, and an MBA in Busi-ness, a full time accounting job, and a successful model-ing and photography career. Yet somehow she manages to find time to be glamorous, as seen in her high fashion and pinup photos. I had the plea-sure of shadowing J. Rose on a shoot several months ago, and found myself amazed many times throughout the day at the sheer energy and force of the woman. She man-aged to make the shoot fun for everyone, from makeup

to lighting, and even put the models at ease. She patient-ly worked with me and al-lowed me the opportunity to see what it was like on both sides of the camera. Whatev-er side of the camera Jessica is on, she shows how strong and beautiful she really is.

How long have you been a photographer and model?

I have done it off and on, but I did not start seriously until summer of 2007. I signed up on www.modelmayhem.com in summer of 2007 as a model. I became a photogra-pher officially around March of 2008 when I got my first camera, the Canon Rebel Xti.

S o t h e m ove f r o m hobby to career was

fa i r ly recent then? W h a t m a d e y o u lean towards pin-up photography?

Yes, when I first signed up to model in 2007 I was doing it as a hobby mostly, although I did find a few paid gigs here and there where the design-ers paid me to model their items or the photographers paid me to add me to their book. However, I seemed to be able to make it more a ca-reer when I leaned to photog-raphy. There is always a need for a photographer, and peo-ple seem to be more willing to pay for photography services than modeling services. Once I got some experience, and brushed up on my lighting and editing skills, and got my name out there from working with so many people, I was

able to turn photography into a career. I got into pinup pho-tography by accident, kind of. I started out as a model, and was trying out modeling dif-ferent genres. I found that pinup and high fashion were my favorite types of mod-eling, and I gained signifi-cant experience in that area. I have always been into vin-tage shopping and the retro eras, so I already have a vin-tage/retro style wardrobe and props to use at shoots. I also find it easy to come up with themes/shoot ideas/lo-cations for retro style shoots, and models love to dress up vintage. When I first start-ed learning how to edit pho-tos, I would always add retro touches to them, so I came to realize this was my favorite area of photography to do,

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and I developed a niche in this area so that past clients always refer me new pinup clients.

Would you say you enjoy photography or model-ing more at this time?

I enjoy both, but I think be-ing the model at a shoot is much easier than being a photogra-pher. After the shoot, the pho-tographer spends long hours editing photos. A model just shows up to the shoot, gets her hair and makeup done, gets styled by wardrobe team (as-suming the model does not do her own hair/makeup/ward-robe), does some posing and waits to receive photos after the shoot. However, the photog-rapher often has more creative direction and control over the shoot, and I really like being the photographer during the shoot and being creative. Models do not often realize the time and effort that a photographer gives after the shoot to get photos sorted, organized, and edited. I used to be an impatient model waiting for photos after shoots and now that I’ve been both I can see both sides of waiting anxiously to receive photos ver-sus trying to get photos edited and finished as quickly as pos-sible but with the best quality possible.

From what I’ve seen, you have a lot of fun on set no matter which side of the camera you’re on. Is there a shoot that sticks out in mind for you? A favorite prop or set of models you got to work with, etc.

Hmm, yes, I try to keep my shoots fun! That’s what it is all about; having fun at a shoot! If I could have my way, I’d do pho-tography full-time for a living because it would not feel like working compared to the usual

accounting day jobs I do. I have so many shoots that come to mind when you ask this, but I will describe one of my fa-vorites in detail for you. First off though, I will say my favorite props include old vintage cars like my friend Alex’s ‘57 Chevy, his flame upright bass, and a silver vin-tage washtub I found at Goodwill. My favorite model to work with is Babydoll from PMM. I’ve done probably over 15 to 20 shoots with her, and she’s always so much fun to work with! I invite her to all of my group shoots. My most recent fun shoot was for the band, The Graveyard Bandits. We had a fun group of people there including 3 make-up artists/hair stylists, 5 models including me, and the band. It was a very, relaxed fun atmosphere with everyone laughing and joking.

From the sounds of it, having fun doesn’t begin to describe it. If you had advice for someone just start-ing out in photog-raphy or modeling, what would it be?

I would tell them several things. First, I’d say sign up for a free account on www.mod-elmayhem.com. You can really network on that site and meet others in the same industry. It is a great place to book shoots. Next, I’d say to be able to face rejection and not take no for an-swer. Have confidence in your-self to do whatever you want to do, and don’t let anyone else tell you how to do something. You are in charge of creating your own art. Finally, I’d like to stress the importance of networking! I

learned how to do photography from all of the photographers I met while modeling.

Please be sure to check out more of Jessica Rose’s photog-raphy and modeling through:

J Rose Photography:myspace.com/jrosephotographer

www.modelmayhem.com737387

Modeling:myspace.com/topmodelrose

modelmayhem.com/431541

modelmayhem.com/509981

Against All WillContinued from page 3

For the past couple of months the band locked themselves in a small dirty rehearsal room and f leshed out new ideas and songs. “We want to try some really different stuff this time around.” The band has some shows lined up in the new year in California (Slide Bar and Good Hurt) around the NAMM Convention. AAW also has offers on the table for the opening act on some well known tours this spring.

A gainst A l l Wi l l didn’t form because of the bands they were in , t hey for med to create the band they always wanted to be in – and the proof is in the music. I do encourage everyone to check this band out! I already see them rising to the top! I will be taking a trip to California in Janu-ary to personally meet and watch these guys perform. I’m sure I’ll be coming back with more excit ing news about them.

“The Drug I need” is now in spin with Sirius XM Octane. Request at Rock radio and XM Octane (888-3-octane)

Look out for Against All Will in your city soon!

You can find more i n f or m a t ion a b ou t Against All Will on their website:

againstallwill.com


Up front and close with Denise Ames TV show host , animal

lover, sports fan and an all-round talented woman, De-nise Ames is a lady on a mis-sion. “Focus in the Mix with Denise Ames,” is steadily gain-ing steam from coast to coast and now on the internet. With a show that focuses on both music and news, there’s a lit-tle something for everyone. She has interviewed many ce-lebrities, and has never been afraid to ask the difficult questions.

She found time between filming her show and rescu-ing ‘Four legged angels’ to sit down and chat with us.

When was it that you decided to go into Broadcast Journalism? Were there any news anchors that gave you inspiration?

Denise Ames: A few years ago my parents sat me down while I wasn’t working and suggested I take a stab at news reporting. My stepfa-ther worked at ABC in San Di-ego, my hometown, and he al-ways thought I would be good because I looked like a news anchor and because I am very nosey. So after approaching my local cable company 11 times, they finally agreed to see me and I did my first news remote that day, for free. I worked without pay for a couple months and within that same time frame some-one recommended me to a lo-cal newspaper and they gave me a shot. Within about two months I was offered paying work at both places; that told me ‘Okay I guess my parents are correct, I should be doing news.’

As a native of San Di-ego, you had exposure to many up and coming

artists . Was there a choice to follow Music Journalism? When and how did that come into fruition?

Growing up, during my high school years, all the bands I followed were playing in West Hollywood: Motley Crue, Ratt, Great White, etc. So my friends and I would sneak up every weekend in my yellow Datsun B-210 and hit the Troubadour on Santa Monica and the Rainbow on Sunset. I was just a fan of mu-sic as a kid; I had no thoughts of reporting back then.

Did you come against any obstacles that fe-male journalists might have? If so, how did you overcome the barriers?

Not really. I sort of fell into doing a TV show when the editor of a newspaper I

was writing for asked me to start one up based on his pe-riodical. I came up with en-tertainment and community news segments from stories in that paper and added a ce-lebrity guest interview in be-tween. That show was on 10 public access channels by the time someone with a studio offered to take me to regular TV/leased access so I could actually make a living at it. My sponsors are the ones that allow me to bring Focus in the Mix with Denise Ames to the viewers: Colombo’s Ital-ian Restaurant & Jazz Club in Eagle Rock, Vendome Wine & Spirits in Toluca Lake, Bar-bra Porter Photography, All Access Magazine, the Holly-wood band Blue Embrace and First Class Network TV.

You wrote for CNN Headline Local News

po l i t i ca l seg m ents around the Los Ange-les area. Do you feel that gave you a vast l a nd sca pe to d raw from?

I wrote the ‘factoids’ you often see at the bottom of the TV screen during interviews. It gave me a more worldly perspective on subject mat-ter I would have otherwise not been aware of, like the stats for unemployment and foreclosures, what Port Hue-neme is implementing to cut back on big rig pollution, fun things like that…

I noticed you rescue animals . How many to date? Tell us about them.

I honestly can’t remember how many I have rescued


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Album Reviews

Title: Quit your job – Play GuitarArtist:Mark Robinson

The MADcHATTER

As a devotee of the blues, I always enjoy it when anoth-er art ist makes a break-through. If jazz was America’s first true musical art form, the blues was what start-ed everything else. It is the root of all modern music and another musician has joined its long and illustrious ranks as an upcoming artist in my opinion. ‘Quit your job – Play Guitar’ is the first release by Mark Robinson. I know, many of you are saying ‘Who?’ The great thing about the title is…that’s exactly what Mark Robinson did! Mark moved to Nashville back in 2004. Now just 6 years later he has released his first CD. It’s amazing what determination, talent and a dream can do. His mix of blues, americana, rock, soul and other inf luences is unique.

Born in Bloomington, Indi-ana, Mark Robinson started picking guitar at the tender age of 13. A few years later Mark managed to land his

first professional gig with none other than Bobby Helms (you might know his 1957 hit ‘Jingle Bell Rock’). Mark worked for years as a side-man for many blues greats including Bo Diddly, Lon-nie Brooks and Koko Taylor. Mark was gaining experience live and in the studio with such artists as the late great Bill Wilson, Tad Robinson (no relation) and rock guitar God Larry Crane.

After building such a résu-mé, it was only a matter of time before he was noticed. What’s interesting is how he got noticed. Mark produced this album and released it on his own Blind Chihuahua label. Listing it on Radio Sub-mit, notices went out about a new blues CD. Blues Bou-levard president Alfie Falck-enbach heard the CD and contacted Robinson about coming over to Blues Bou-levard. Blues Boulevard is a member of the Music Avenue Group of Labels in Europe with worldwide distribution and is home to such acts as Alvin Jett, Delta Moon & The Phat Noiz Blues Band.

Listening to the CD I am reminded of some of the great inf luences of the blues. On the opening track ‘Poor Boy’ which is a rewritten ver-sion of ‘Poor Boy Long Way From Home’ by Bukka White, Mark and songwriter Davis Raines bring a new vital-ity to this classic. There are eleven tracks on this album and each one is like a differ-ent layer on a cake. Track two is a song called ‘Payday Give-away’ written by Mark and his mentor, the late great Bill Wilson. This would have to be one of my favorites on this CD. It highlights Mark’s gui-tar work and his grainy blue-sy voice pays homage to both

southern rock and the Delta blues. The Wurlitzer elec-tric played to perfection by Johnny Neel on this song just made it perfect to me!

The only real disappoint-ment for me on this album was ‘Sleepwalk’. The classic instrumental that has been overplayed on every prom movie since 1959 when it was first written by Santo & Johnny just didn’t inspire me. His spin on it is definitely dif-ferent and shows off some of his virtuosity, but the tempo of the song about put me to sleep. I consider this song to be filler. This and others also show Marks devotion to some of the 50’s rock sounds.

‘Memphis won’t leave me alone’ has to be my next favor-ite. Written based on lyrics he got from Andi Crimmins-Ren-free while traveling in Texas, he pays definite homage to the Delta Blues with a nice mix of Piedmont blues remi-niscent of Cootie Stark (one of my hero’s) in a song that kept my foot tapping all the way through it! I Loved it!

For those of you who love New Orleans Blues, well then the song ‘Back Up Plan’ will certainly please your Cajun cravings. Another excellent number called ‘The Fixer’ reminds me of some of the late night sessions we used to have when things would slow down and the Jack Dan-iels was kicking in. It’s deep, soulful and full of the kind of blues guitar playing that is the epitome of the blues. Influences showing through here would be Kenny Wayne Sheppard and Gary Moore. However, the delivery is defi-nitely Mark Robinson.

The Bottom Line: This CD is a ‘should have’

for the blues aficionado and should appeal to the new

Blues lover as well. While some parts did make me yawn the rest more than made up for it. Mark Robinson is at the beginning of a long road after travelling down a long road to get here. How-ever, that’s the nature of the Blues people. It’s the journey and hardships on the road we sing and play about...not the destination. The blues are the single most influential sound on the planet and they rep-resent the pain, anguish and hope of a people. They are not monochromatic as Stevie Ray Vaughn showed us…they are a part of us all.

I would recommend this CD. It’s worth the money to any Blues fan and should be in your collection.

Title: ****Artist: The Greenhornes

Zoe Reindl-Heit

The fourth album by The Greenhor nes, * * * * ( pro-nounced Four Stars), is so underrated and seemingly obscure that it’s depressing. It got hardly any publicity, and frankly, it should have. It’s awesome. It draws influ-ences from tons great musi-cians without being irritat-ingly similar, and melds it all


together with their gritty DIY garage-rock style. Some members of The Green-hornes play with Jack White in The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather. You can defi-nitely hear Jack’s inf luence on this new record.

When you begin to lis-ten to this album, the ini-tial thought is that it’s pret-ty good. You cruise through the first couple songs with-out noticing too much, and then you hit the song Better Off Without It, three songs in. This song is great, and suddenly, this album starts sounding really good.

Then you get to the psy-chedelic piece Cave Draw-ings. Well, it’s as psychedel-ic as a garage rock song can get. They did some cool thing with the vocals, so when you listen to it in headphones it sounds like the vocals are coming from several differ-ent places, and all crescendo in the middle of your brain. It’s slow and has a variety of nonsensical lyrics.

Song 13, is catchy and poppy. If Weezer and Neil Young got together, a song much like this one would be the result. The chances of that actually happening are about one to one billion, so this is as good as you’ll get.

This album rocks like many classic rock bands like The Who or Led Zeppe-lin, and it definitely doesn’t sound like anything released in the last ten years. Sure, it has its cheesy moments lyr-ically, but it’s pretty easy to overlook, considering the sweet guitar work and over-all awesome vibe this album has.

Title:CRUD on Monster IslandArtist:CRUD

Eva M. Trudeau

In 2005, CRUD released their first album, “Devil at the Wheel.” It took off like a rocket and was a smash suc-cess on Internet and Video. They have won several DMA’s (Detroit Music Awards). Now they’re back and on ‘Monster Island’. The only monstrous things about this album are the riffs.

Crud is well known for electrif ying shows. Bur-le s que b e aut y Da n iel le Arsenault, with her steamy vocals and Vin E. (vocalist of Sponge), with his command-ing stage presence hold an audience captive. Together, they front a sound that has brought them renown across the US and the UK.

Bomb Bomb: This song quickly sets off the tempo and theme of the album. It is a guitar and Techno driv-en number. It is an infec-tious and contagious song. This could easily be a hit on Satellite and FM radio. The melodies and harmonies mix quite well. Great rhythm sec-tion and guitar riffs noted. My only disappointment, was that it ended as I was getting hooked and into the feel of the track. It left me begging for more.

We’ll Not Be Broken: Inter-est ing Techno/Industrial introduction. It makes me

wonder why they aren’t get-ting more media attention and airplay. The lyrics are clever and well performed. It is proof positive that CRUD can command attention and gain respect on their own. The guitar solo was mas-terfully executed by David Black. Everyone and anyone from Detroit, knows he is one to hold his own.

Balaam’s Ass Speaks: This track starts of with a bang and is reminiscent of “Real-it y,” of f the f irst album. However, this song packs a punch. Great segue into the guitar solo. Danielle and Vin E’s vocals compliment one another. Excellent Bass lines, provided by Dana Forrester, set forth the tempo.

Monster A Go Go: This song is clearly radio-friendly. I could see this as a video on Cable TV. I would highly sug-gest giving this song a listen. It is also great for club music. It ’s danceable and overall, a fun song. A lot of care was put into the production of this particular song. It is safe to say that this is easily pre-dicted to be a cross-genre hit.

The Devil is a Patient Man: The Techno intro and haunt-ing vocals start this song off, to give way to keyboards and electrif ying guitars. This album was several years in the waiting and it definitely paid off. It is moody, haunt-ing, and electrifying all at once. It is proof positive that CRUD is on track and in has their sights set on becoming a force to be reckoned with.

I’ll Be Damned: I have yet to disappoint with this album. Each song brings out their strong points. CRUD is well known for their intense and highly charged live shows. Each song does not let you down on this newest release. Vin E’s vocals are strong and intense. Danielle’s are sultry

and tantalizing. The two of them compliment one anoth-er quite effectively. CRUD’s unique style has carved them a niche in the Industrial Met-al Category. It mystifies me why they have not taken off sooner, on a nationwide level

The Man Goes Down: This is my personal pick. I smell a hit with this song. It will receive quite a bit of airplay on the Internet Radio cir-cuit. The crunchy guitar and steady and pounding rhythm section set the tone for suc-cess. It is a musical delight, from start to finish. The tem-po shifts during the solo, and is quite a technical feat. This song is masterfully executed, from start to finish.

Fire: This clever song brings forth various genres to provide a treat. The addi-t ion of the horn sect ion, g ives it a “Pulp Fict ion” feel. This could be action film soundtrack music. It is of such a caliber. One thing that stands out in my mind is that CRUD always leaves you guessing. You never from start to finish what they will bring forth next. Anyone who listens will agree whole-heartedly. My only disap-pointment was that the song ended so soon. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Die With the Sinners: This final track has a unique tech-nical style to it. The staccato segue leads into the vocals. The effort and care in this track leaves you guessing what they will surprise with you with next. This is pedal to the floor music. It made me wish I could race down the highway and crank up the stereo.

In summation, CRUD’s latest release is not to be missed.


Denise AmesContinued from page 14

over the years, but I did lose two this year (2010): my beloved Marmalade, a homeless cat I let in and my sweet Guido (my white co-conut ‘cookie’ dog) I adopt-ed from the Glendale Animal Shelter. I currently have six in my home: Elvis, my choco-late cocker spaniel, Max, my fiercely protective min pin, Little L.B. (stands for Linda Blair, who helped me rescue her off South Central Animal Shelter death row with about 20 minutes to live), Scottie Boy, my majestic black cat I adopted from Best Friends, Tommy Catt Ratt (named af-ter my favorite band of all time) who was a teeny lost kitten too young to be away from his mother and I didn’t think he’d survive the night, and Punky, my big fat orange cat who was homeless and after a year and a half of re-fusing to come near me when I would put food outside for him finally had to give in be-cause he was too weak and

dying. I got him serious medi-cal attention and had to quar-antine him for seven weeks because he had mange too, and now he’s perfect.

Who can we expect to see in upcoming epi-sodes of Focus in the Mix with Denise Ames?

Martha Davis of The Mo-tels along with segment guest Janelle Sadler who just won Vh1’s Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp TV Show both appear on our Girl Power episode. We dedicate an episode to Vinny Appice talking about his boss, the late, great Ronnie James Dio, including viewer ques-tions sent in through the TV show’s Facebook page. The band Amass Divinity will also appear on that episode.

Who would be your dream interview be with?

The San Diego Chargers… my people!

If you had not gone into entertainment what area of broadcasting

w o u l d yo u l i k e t o cover?

I would love to cover NFL Football. They are becoming naughtier than the rock stars these days! Brett, Ben, Ran-dy, Vince… naughty, naughty, naughty! I love ESPN’s Sports Center and all the gossip on there!

Do you feel that you have set a precedent for young girls who look up to you and wh at you do? H ow would you encourage them?

The only thing I feel like I have done as far as the TV show goes that can be ‘looked up to’ is that I keep going. So many nasty people have tried to make me not succeed. Dis-regard and move forward! My main purpose on this cra-zy planet is to educate and encourage others to be kind to all living creatures, includ-ing animals. This is why I do not eat them, wear them, use products tested on them, and attend circuses that use them

and so on. We donate: 30 sec-ond spots of airtime during the TV show to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to show their PSAs in hopes of educating the public about animal cruelty to help stop it.

When not busy, what sort of hobbies do you have?

I love Scrabble, watching NFL football, hanging out at the Rainbow (still!), but most-ly loving my four-legged an-gels. They are the best thing that ever happened to me.

Now that your show is online, you have a wid-er viewing audience to draw from. What me-dia outlets would you like to conquer next?

Syndication worldwide... most of the rock stars I in-terview are known and loved around the globe. Wouldn’t it be awesome to be syndicated like Oprah did, then have the shows translated for foreign countries to enjoy?

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Bits and BytesRock Band 3

Jax Mandrake

System: XBox 360 (Also on PlayStation 3, Wii, DS)Publisher: Electronic Arts/MTV GamesDeveloper: HarmonixGenre: Rhythm ActionRating: 8/10ESRB Rating: Teen – Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol

It seems that every year, Activision has a new Guitar Hero game on the market, and Electronic Arts counters regularly with a new edition of Rock Band. Both compa-nies release fresh download-able content (or DLC) weekly and EA is known to unleash some of its DLC on disc for the

benefit of collectors or those without online access. Each publisher is pressed to make improvements to the expe-rience to convince the gam-er that their game is the one that should be enjoyed more. The basic gameplay doesn’t change all that much, which is good news for those with all that DLC they want to keep playing with.

Rock Band 3 adds a few features to refresh the expe-rience. The most obvious is the addition of an extra layer of complexity: to increase the number of fans you earn, you must complete a supplemen-tary challenge such as activat-ing score-doubling Overdrive as often as possible. This doesn’t necessarily make the game more difficult, or any less enjoyable. Most of these challenges, being centered on accuracy, flow smoothly with the core gameplay. One thing to note, though: I play almost exclusively on medium diffi-culty, and I note that a lot of the new songs in the collec-tion make you reach for the fifth fret button, which I am not used to doing. (Perhaps I should play on Hard more often, but I play for enjoy-ment, not frustration.)

Visuals: Aside from the fresh cinematic sequences and some special effects, not much has changed from pre-vious editions. It is nice to see some of the effects and some of the polish, but truth be told, you’re going to pay more attention to the scroll-ing fret boards than anything else, and those look about the same as they always have. You do have quite a bit of free-dom to dress up your charac-ter, should you choose to do so, and that freedom increas-es as you unlock clothing, instruments, and accessories by playing music and com-pleting goals. The only real-ly disappointing part of the visuals is the audience, whose animation is rather static and uninspired.

Sound: Like always, most of the music is faithfully reproduced from the original recordings until a mistake is made. Any other sound effects, limited to the menus and status screens, are sub-tle – usually guitar twangs as options are explored and selected. There are some extra sound effects during the music play, true, but again they are subtly blended in.

Control: With a standard

guitar or drum controller, it’s a matter of “if you’ve played it before, you’ll know it by heart.” If you haven’t, there are tutorials to help you learn and a calibration tool to help you tighten the controls, both of which can earn you a few extra fans. (This is a soft-ware review, so I cannot com-ment on the new Pro Guitar or Keyboard Controllers.)

All in all, Rock Band 3 is there to appease the fans who want more of the same, though the tweaks do make it different enough to appre-ciate. About the only real complaint – and the proof that there’s no way to please everybody – is the sometimes quest ionable select ion of new music, and the absence of some songs and artists, which is more likely due to conflicts with the music rep-resentatives. (I hope that’s the only possible reason there hasn’t been any Zappa music in any of these games yet!) What will definitely keep gamers rocking, aside from the constant stream of DLC, is the challenge of com-pleting as many career goals as possible.

AnvilContinued from page 5

came out. It’s like a living cal-endar. It’s the soundtrack to our lives.

Do you feel things have come ful l ci rcle or, what else lies in store for you? Any challeng-es you would like to tackle?

I would love to see world peace. Inside I am a hippie, and I would like to see people

to live in peace. Deep down, I am a not a selfish person. I would like to change the world. Its one thing to change the world, not just your own.

Anvil links: facebook.com/Anvil.World-Wide.Street.Team

myspace.com/anvil_ny_streetteam

my.tbaytel.net/tgallo/anvil/

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24| Rock Thiz Magazine | Issue 2Prepared by MagCloud for Lisa Snyder. Get more at rockthizmagazine.magcloud.com.

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