My Roots

Mark Kendall of Great White (INTERVIEW)

Leslie Michele Derrough October 31, 2011 No Comments

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.

Todd Kerns of Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators (INTERVIEW)

Leslie Michele Derrough October 24, 2011 No Comments

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.

Jonathan Tyler of Northern Lights (INTERVIEW)

Leslie Michele Derrough October 17, 2011 No Comments

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.

Cale Gontier of Art of Dying (INTERVIEW)

Leslie Michele Derrough October 10, 2011 No Comments

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.

Bobby Schneck (Slash), George Potsos (Devon Allman’s Honeytribe) (INTERVIEW)

Leslie Michele Derrough October 3, 2011 No Comments

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 of Sevendust (INTERVIEW)

Leslie Michele Derrough September 26, 2011 No Comments

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.”