Posts by Leslie Michele Derrough

You may not be familiar with his name, but Marc Copely’s music has probably passed by you more times than you realize. Even I wasn’t familiar with the young man playing guitar with JD & The Straight Shot at Jazz Fest in New Orleans recently. Investigating a little further, these wonderful bluesy concoctions started filtering […]

This week Joseph Arthur unveiled The Ballad Of Boogie Christ. Fans of the chameleonic singer-songwriter have been waiting for this record, waiting to see what has been on his mind since early 2012’s Redemption City. With a cool Tom Waits vibe slinking in and out of the new tunes amongst the confusion and tranquility and […]

“Is this Valerie?” Whitesnake guitar player Doug Aldrich asks when I call for our interview. Realizing his mistake he apologizes with a laugh. “I’m sorry, Leslie. That’s what I meant.” It seems Aldrich has a good reason for being a bit confused, as right before our planned talk a friend stopped by with a surprise […]

After a humongous world tour and a month-long over-the-top residency in Las Vegas, how does Guns N’ Roses possibly top what they have just done? It’s quite simple, actually. Something probably no one but the band even thought of: strip it all down by cutting out the props, the dancers, the mega-watt lights and the […]

She is the young woman with the big, bold voice and isn’t afraid to use it. With her sharp blue eyes cutting across the crowd that has moved up close to the stage like moths to a flame, she prepares them for one of her quick-witted songs. For someone so young, she sure knows how […]

He is the man with the golden guitar. Or rather, he is the man with the golden touch. Robin Trower has sparked many an adolescent music fan’s imagination on fire with one song: “Bridge Of Sighs.” With it’s ethereal intro and elongated celestial blues vibrations, generations have been lost within this unbelievable sensation of sounds. It is one of those timeless pieces that will have life long after we have departed this earth. What more could you ask for when it comes to your art.

But how much do we actually know about Neil Giraldo? Often overshadowed by the powerful spotlight shining on his wife, the man with the still-rocking pompadour certainly knows how to rip out a roaring solo on guitar, as proven in their Biloxi set on “So Sincere,” “Hell Is For Children,” “Everybody Lay Down” and during a climatic encore finale of their “Heartbreaker,” Johnny Cash’s “Ring Of Fire,” into Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker” riffs and a little bit of “The Godfather.” It’s strange how some guitar players get so overlooked.

A year ago last spring, the Revivalists released their strongest album to date: City Of Sound. With more attention to the actual sound of the music, they have grown by leaps and bounds into a solid hornet’s nest buzzing with funk, horns and rock & roll while retaining their kicking foal spirit. Shaw, not one to stand behind a microphone and emote, herks and jerks with a spasmodic, almost Iggy Pop versatility that attracts the youth gone wild members of their audience to jump up and down with him, singing along, like the band has been around a lot longer than they actually have. It takes a certain vivaciousness to be the next big thing – and the Revivalists are certainly on their way.

Carl Palmer is not known to sit still for very long. He transitioned into the music video fueled 80’s with Asia, featuring Yes’ Steve Howe and Geoff Downes, and hit #1 with their debut self-titled album and spurning a top 5 single with “Heat Of The Moment.” Palmer has toured and recorded with his solo band and just recently was involved with a project labeled the Carl Palmer Legacy. I spoke with Palmer about his recent endeavors, ELP and what it takes to make a drum solo spectacular.

Drummers were high-energy beat keepers all weekend: Mutemath’s Darren King with his duct-taped-on headphones, Cowboy Mouth’s Fred LeBlanc’s always animated hard-hitting antics, Patrick Carney whipping his sticks into a frenzy during the Black Keys’ Sunday set, the lanky legendary Mick Fleetwood, Stanton Moore of Galactic coming off his seat as the adrenalin pumps him up and Joey Peebles tearing the absolute skin off his drums during Trombone Shorty’s Fest closing performance.

Today, Lou Gramm is healthy and feeling good. He fronts the Lou Gramm Band, that also includes his brother Ben, and they are currently touring. Plus, he has his autobiography just hitting shelves. An entertaining read, with fun stories and interesting tidbits about life in a super-successful rock band at the height of its popularity, Gramm has left the dirt and gossip to other rockers and has instead provided a Dorothy-like skip through the land of Oz. Juke Box Hero is a delightful memoir and one that Gramm recently took some time out on his birthday last week to talk with us about.

The thunder rolled, the rain poured down and the fans danced and sang, bringing the first weekend of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival to a joyously muddy conclusion. For the past few years, the Fest has lucked out with decent weather; and for the most part, the three day weekend was lavished with partly-sunny skies, some late afternoon breezes and typical sweat-conjuring humidity. So the raindrops were long overdue and not unexpected, if you paid attention to local forecasters all week.

Dennis Dunaway was there at the beginning  and co-wrote some of Alice Cooper's most notable songs, including "I'm Eighteen" and "School's Out". He ran track with pre-Alice Vince Furnier in high school and prodded him to start a band after seeing the great guitar slinger Duane Eddy. And it is Dunaway who is the keeper of the memories, a title that makes him laugh when I call him this during our interview earlier this year. But his stories of days-gone-by belie his denial as they are vividly clear, told with surprising detail and in such a way that the listener is kept spellbound as if the event happened yesterday, as if you were actually there with bass player Dunaway, drummer Neal Smith, guitarists Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton (who passed away in 1997) and ringleader Cooper.

With Cris Kirkwood's return to health and the addition of Shandon Sahm on drums, the Meat Puppets have only grown stronger over the years. But Curt Kirkwood still remains nonchalant – about how he creates music, how he lives his life and his dogs that are barking in the background during our interview last month. It is what is.

They call Howard Leese a lucky man: he has had a brilliant career, playing guitar for Heart from 1975 to 1997; he has played with Paul Rodgers in Bad Company and Rodgers’ solo band for over a decade; he released a great solo album in 2009; has his own signature guitar at PRS; got to see The Doors performing live on the Strip; is currently a member of the new Vegas show Raiding The Rock Vault; and last week was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame with Heart. How much more can one man be blessed with in a career?

There is no one in the music business with more energy and enthusiasm for their job than Jeff Pilson. The man is always happy, always smiling, always involved in something; whether it be traveling around the country as the bass player for Foreigner, producing records for bands like Adler and Kill Devil Hill, or recording his own music with T&N or War & Peace. He never stops. Even though he tells me, “When I’m done at the end of the day, I like to just relax and veg,” he breaks into a big laugh like even he doesn’t believe that ever happens.

It is the voice that turns your head in her direction. Whether it is Jeff Beck, Joe Bonamassa or Slash playing guitar behind her, your attention immediately changes direction and in seconds flat you are enraptured by what is emanating from this woman’s throat. Whether she is belting out the heartbreaking “Sister Heroine” about her dying sister or channeling a raunchy Ray Charles on “Sinner’s Prayer,” Beth Hart has got it.

Surrounding himself by a large, absolutely fantastic, band, Clapton fell into his comfort zone, playing on tip-toes as the chords took over and settling back into a rhythm mode when Doyle Bramhall II or Paul Carrack took the reins. Clapton is a quiet leader, able to shine one moment, able to hide in the shadows, sans ego, sans flamboyance, another. In jeans and long-sleeved button-up shirt, he could very well just be heading out to the local Home Depot to pick up some gardening supplies. If you didn’t know this was Eric Clapton, he’d just be another you or me.

Michael Sweet, the voice of Stryper, has made a pretty good living in music all these years. He has recorded solo albums, fronted the legendary band Boston on tour as well as T&N, a unit that features the members of Dokken sans Don. He always appears jovial and comfortable in his faith. Hard knocks have not beaten him down. Not even when he lost his beloved first wife to cancer, on which the anniversary of her passing was also the date of our scheduled interview.

He is out in the crowd before you know it. Blood is running down his hand yet he is jumping around and dancing amongst the fans gathered in a circle around him. The energy is buzzing as young and old come to investigate the musical commotion going on in front of the stage at the New Orleans Voodoo Music Festival. If you didn’t know the name The Stone Foxes before this then you surely know it now. And just like that, Shannon Koehler, vocalist and drummer of this San Francisco band, is back on the stage, singing his heart out and grinning ear to ear. This energy is why he became a musician.