Posts by Leslie Michele Derrough

The first thing you notice when chatting with Berlin’s Terri Nunn is her laugh. It’s big and infectious. You get the feeling that she could tell the world’s worst joke but her punchline laughter would have you doubling over right alongside her. The next thing you notice is her honesty, her nonchalant comfortability talking about […]

Every now and then, you run into someone who is so no bullshit that it almost shocks you. Richie Ramone, drummer for the legendary Ramones during some of their most prolific years, is one of those people. He tells it like it is, walks the walk through the pretenders and over-the-toppers and plays rock & […]

Jeff Angell is on a mission. The frontman/guitar player for the Walking Papers is in Lubbock, Texas, and looking for a swimming pool. It’s a day off for the band, who are tearing up their headlining slot on the Ernie Ball Powered Zippo Encore Stage on the Rockstar Energy Uproar tour, and relaxing in the […]

Last week Ben Shepherd unleashed his solo album In Deep Owl. Full of haunting and hypnotically alluring tunes that furrow the brow at the deeper meanings underneath some pretty cryptic sounding lyrics, Shepherd has not three-sixtied away from his Soundgarden roots. He has just chosen an almost Lou Reed/Plastic Ono Band kaleidoscope in which to […]

Joe Satriani is at his home in San Francisco, enjoying “a sunny day, which is unusual in late July,” the guitar great explains when he calls in for our interview. “San Francisco is usually covered with fog. But it’s a sunny day. It’s nice.” When I asked him if this was actually a good time […]

This is not his father Phil’s music. Not really. This goes beyond a realm that the genius of the band Genesis traveled across. But the progeny hasn’t fallen too far from the origin of his birth and Simon Collins, along with songwriting partner Dave Kerzner, have created quite a tasty pastry not only for your […]

“I like guys who care about their music. Forty years later, he still cares about every show.” That is how former Heart guitar player Howard Leese described working with Paul Rodgers, a gig he has been doing now for over sixteen years. Not many vocalists can be called The Voice for this long and it […]

Oh to be young and talented. The past few years have seen a bumper crop of youthful up and coming musicians hitting the circuit and being recognized for their fresh new sounds. ZZ Ward comes to mind, Rival Sons and Jonathan Tyler. Add to that list Jared James Nichols, a tall and lanky blues guitar […]

“I’m not that interesting anymore cause you know me,” Todd Kerns says before breaking into a big laugh. Granted, I’ve talked with Slash’s bass player more than once but the former frontman for Canada’s uber-popular Age Of Electric and Static In Stereo has never failed to give us an interesting interview. Always entertaining, always jovial […]

Rudy Sarzo and his brother Robert are leaned over talking to a young man in a wheelchair named Clarke. It is a very exciting moment for the young fan, whose admiration for the bass player is brightly displayed on his face. The brothers spend time with him, taking some photos, signing autographs, before walking over […]

The summer is heating up outside. Temperatures are settling daily over the 100 degree mark quite nicely and people are dying to hibernate in air-conditioning. Spending all day and night in a sweltering box shed for a few bands may seem like a torture not worth living, but if you love your music alive and […]

Earlier this year, photographer Ash Newell posted a link to one of Richie Kotzen’s videos on his Facebook. I don’t remember why, maybe it was for his birthday or maybe just because he wanted to remind people what a talented musician Kotzen was. For whatever reason, it worked, at least for me, as I went […]

When your first album comes out of the barrel and receives very good reviews, it can be very exciting … and then quite stressful when you start thinking about making another one. But for Harper Simon, he didn’t exactly fall under the sophomore spell as some other newbies might have. If anything, it would have […]

There are very few singers who could simply be called “The Voice,” and Paul Rodgers is certainly one of them. His raspy, rascally blues-soaked emotations about love and lust and hearty adventures are legendary. From the quintessential bare-bones rockers by Free – “All Right Now” and “I’m A Mover” – to the more mature, deeper […]

You want to impress somebody? Tell them that you played guitar on Alice Cooper’s Welcome To My Nightmare; or that it was you playing that solo on Aerosmith’s cover of “Train Kept-A-Rollin’” and not Joe Perry; or that you created the “Intro” to Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane;” that you have toured with Cooper, Reed, Tracy […]

You know a concert is going to be good when the music coming from the sound-check has fans huddling with their ears pressed against the glass, soaking up every note as if their rock & roll life depended on it, then walking away with a look of pure astonishment. Several went back over to friends, […]

Carmine Appice is a giant behind his drum kit. His pioneering thunderous approach to the rock beat has influenced many drummers, including Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham, and his tree trunk sized sound can be heard in such modern-day skin-men as Brian Tichy, Mike Portnoy, Mick Brown, Nicko McBrain and Carmine’s younger brother Vinny. The man […]

Just about 44 years ago, on a soggy wet farm in upstate New York, a little festival was taking place. It was originally supposed to be an “Aquarian Exposition, three days of peace and music” to celebrate the hunky dory enchanted freedom that the 1960’s had mythicized almost into reality. The last night, a Sunday, […]

They have often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Whoever assumed this was possible never looked through the lens of Jimmy Steinfeldt’s camera as he stood in front of Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Miles Davis. The photographs he captured often provoked only one word: wow. Steinfeldt, who got his start […]

If Jon Herington is anything, idle is not it. It may have taken him a little while to get to where he is today, playing guitar in Steely Dan since 2000 and fronting his own band, but he has never really stopped and piddled his time away. In fact, the gentleman from New Jersey with […]