Posts by Leslie Michele Derrough

It’s been over thirty years and Great White is still going strong. Known for such hits as “Rock Me”, “House Of Broken Love”, “Once Bitten Twice Shy” and “Mista Bone”, this band with the blues soul and rock & roll heart is still playing to sold out venues from coast to coast. And on a sunny California afternoon, guitar player Mark Kendall is happily sharing with me memories of his youth, tales from his early days with Great White and whether or not he will finally have time to record another solo record.

Sitting with her at a local coffee shop in New Orleans, you probably would have never known she was a rock star; an everyday rock chick for sure, but not a superstar on the level she was at in the nineties with a little ole band called White Zombie. This lady seems like one of us.

If you want to hang out with any rock star then Todd Kerns is the rocker for you. Slash’s bass player loves to talk about music, especially KISS or the Ramones or his own band, the Sin City Sinners. He also loves to talk about Star Trek and Star Wars. In fact, when I called him to do our interview just prior to his trek to Los Angeles to start working on the new Slash record, he was watching an episode of the classic TV series and looking forward to some Jedi adventures with a friend.

Let’s get something straight: Rick Springfield is not Metallica, not even Bon Jovi, but the man has something inside of him that comes alive in front of an audience.

Hailing from the Dallas area, Northern Lights is beginning to really catch fire via their latest CD Pardon Me, which actually came out in 2010. But it is a young band’s rite of passage to keep humping the clubs and festivals 24/7 to get their music heard and Jonathan Tyler is no different. With a spirit and excitement to their music, it shouldn’t be much longer before they are raising hell high on the music charts.

Welcome to the world of Art Of Dying, a band out of Canada, that has been killing it on the recent Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival Tour and gaining new fans by the thousands. With their Vices & Virtues CD a strong success and a new single, “Get Thru This”, just hitting the charts, the band is on a meteoric rise.

Journey is not just out there promoting old songs via a new voice. They have a new CD out called Eclipse which sounds like the Journey everyone knows and loves but carries a harder-edge punch. They played two new songs, “City Of Hope” and “Edge Of The Moment”, which teased the crowd that this band is moving forward in the right direction and not standing still.

Bobby Schneck has been playing guitar alongside Slash, helping the man do what he does best. George Potsos is the bass player in Devon Allman’s Honeytribe, a great up & coming band with the strong potential to break big any day now. Both men have been musicians since their teens and know what it’s like to be famous and not-so-famous.

Lajon Witherspoon has the raging supersonic vocals that power the amazing heavy duty band Sevendust, yet when you sit down and talk with him, he has an easy, fun sense of humor. He laughs often and when their former light tech Scott jumps on the bus to sneak into a bunk with bass player Vince Hornsby, Witherspoon is almost on the floor in tears laughing so hard. “He’s a muskrat”, Witherspoon jokes. “He sniffed the bunk down top to bottom. It’s so funny.”

If Sebastian Bach is anything, he is a trooper. He has been in this business long enough to know that sometimes you just have to fight for what makes the blood run through your veins.

Fans of the band Great White are loyal and they have stayed with them through good songs and bad songs, tragedy and heartaches, highs and lows. And the band knows this more than anyone. “I really, really, really, really appreciate all the support from the fans over the years,” guitarist Mark Kendall stresses to me a few days before their show in Biloxi. “Our fans are the most unreal friends and fans ever and I’m just like overwhelmed by joy to actually meet people that have been watching us for twenty plus years

Death Cab has perfected the nuance of seductive annihilation. “I Will Possess Your Heart”, “Cath” and “Long Division” stroked the membrane, while “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” was a mesmerizing lullaby with Gibbard standing on the stage alone with his acoustic guitar, pouring his soul out on a blue-lighted stage. Even then, he could not stand still. At times, like on “We Looked Like Giants” and “The Sound Of Settling”, it was like he was an ADD moth teasing a flame.

If you think your life is crazy busy, then you haven’t spent a day in the shoes of Sixx:A.M. vocalist James Michael. Not only does he sing, play some guitar and help create songs with fellow bandmates Nikki Sixx and DJ Ashba, but he is also a producer, engineer and songwriter working with numerous other artists.

With a changed up setlist and more sparkle, the Goo Goo Dolls put on a show full of energetic vigor and special treats for longtime fans. “We’re doing a few old, old, old songs from like 1993, which we haven’t done in years,” Takac shared, a mischievous smile taking over his face. “I love doing this. I still can’t believe I get paid for it.”

Kim Thayil better watch out next time he plays “Black Hole Sun” because Frampton definitely has his number on this one. Rock star having mellowed with age? Not on your life.

Formed in the heat of West Texas around 1996, Los Lonely Boys have something that a lot of bands don’t. And I’m not talking about that Grammy award for their catchy inspirational song “Heaven”. What they have is a strong sense of family values, love and respect, and a pureness of heart for the music they create.

What may come as a surprise is that Cinderella have been touring successfully most summers with no new album to promote. But they love this and love to play for their fans. “You know, we don’t have all the fancy tricks and stuff,” said LaBar. “We just rely on our playing and we take a lot of pride in our actual playing and putting on a good show … If we were doing an arena tour, we’d have some pyro or something. We’d blow up some stuff (laughs). But we’re more into the music and the playing and putting on a show with our actual bodies.”

On a tour celebrating thirsty years of sexed-up rock & roll, the Crue are cruising from town to town and giving their loyal fans exactly what they want. “You voted who we were going to tour with and you voted what songs we were going to play,” bassist Nikki Sixx announced to the crowd. “This tour is actually all about you guys”. And so it was. Putting all their past differences and discrepancies aside for a couple of hours, Mars and Sixx, Tommy Lee and Vince Neil stepped onto the lighted stage and threw down almost two hours of rock solid riffs and traumatic drumming to please you, the fan.

The Sin City Sinners are a bunch of fun misfit rockers from all over the continent: Todd Kerns, who is currently Slash’s bass player of choice, hails from Canada, drummer Rob “Boom Boom” Cournoyer was born and bred in Louisiana, bad ass bass player Doc Ellis is from Southern California, as is former Faster Pussycat guitarist Brent Muscat. Put them together and you’ve got a band that drips rock & roll.

Gregg Allman is a blessed man. For all of his musical life, he has had the privilege of playing next to some of the greatest guitar players in the history of rock & roll. From his own brother Duane to Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, Gregg’s bands have been a fertile spawning ground of unbelievable talent. And for the past several years, Scott Sharrard has been standing in the sweet spot of the Gregg Allman Band.