Decibel Geek Podcast

While America is our home base and largest listener area, our friends up to the north have been accumulating like a blizzard lately. We've had quite a few new Canadian listeners over the past year. There are a few reasons, we think, for this.  1. Mitch Lafon of Bravewords.com was the first official guest to ever be on the Decibel Geek podcast and is based out of the Montreal area. He's also appeared a couple other times as a guest. Mitch Lafon & Russ Dwarf 2. Our interview with Killer Dwarfs singer Russ Dwarf helped us attain more audience members. KD is a great band and Russ still waves the flag up in Canada. 3. The addition of Wally Norton to the Decibel Geek staff. Wally's regular feature, Hoser Heavy Metal has helped shed some light on Canadian rock bands you should check out. His recent interview with Helix's Brian Vollmer also received acclaim throughout the internet and brought more folks from the Great White North our way. So, with that said, it's only natural that we'd decide to shin

Welcome to our nightmare. We think you're gonna like it. Actually, the episode that we post for your listening pleasure today was truly a dream come true for us.  In this long form discussion, veteran guitar maestro Dick Wagner reflects on what it's been like being on the inside of rock history for 40+years. Appearing on more than 200 albums and garnering more than 35 Gold and Platinum albums, Wagner has quite a story (or in this case, many stories) to tell as he gives us a glimpse of the fantastic historical essays that await you in his recently released (and soon to be hardcover-released) e-book entitled Not Only Women Bleed: Vignettes from the Heart of a Rock and Roll Musician. Dick shares stories with us from his earliest days including backing Jerry Lee Lewis in a television appearance as well as the circumstances that led him to become the musical director for the Alice Cooper solo band.  Also in this discussion is Dick's recollections of a short stint living in Nashville in the early 1990'

"We hear & we obey" - Gene Simmons Truer words could not be said of this weeks episode. This week, we turn the controls over to you, the listener. We've received some great requests over the last few weeks and now we get to share your choices with the world. We're happy to present our first Listener Request Show. Before we get started, Chris & Aaron give a quick update of what's been going on at the official Decibel Geek website including a number of great new articles by our most recent writing addition, Wally Gator including 3 Guitarists You Should See Before You Die, Hoser Heavy Metal, and Death of the Album. We also give a shout out to Andrew Jacobs with another great interview; this time with KISS Army founder Bill Starkey. Now, onto the music. We received requests from all over the world from this show as well as many States. You'll hear requests today from Australia, Canada, California, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, New Jersey, South Carolina, Virginia, Utah, and Illinois. It's wonderful hearing fro

We're back this week to give you a Stiff Upper Lip after we Flick the Switch and Blow Up Your Video; making you feel like a Fly on the Wall who needs some Black Ice to recover from a Ballbreaker. If that doesn't give you a clue as to what we're talking about, then we'll spell it out for you....AC/DC. While the Bon Scott era of AC/DC laid the foundation of what we have today, we wanted to take an episode to appreciate some of the highlights of the Brian Johnson era of the band.  With the tragic passing of Scott in 1980, AC/DC was left pondering the decision of whether to go on. A fan in Cleveland, Ohio forwarded a cassette tape Brian Johnson fronting the band Geordie to AC/DC manager Peter Mensch who then recommended the singer to Angus Young and company. Young remembers Bon Scott raving about seeing Geordie years before and it was decided that Johnson was a good fit for the band. Brian Johnson, of course, burst onto the scene in his first album with the band, 1980's legendary Back in Black album. T

Before we flash back in  time we want to remind you of our upcoming Listener Request episode! We want you to call in your hard rock/metal song request on our hotline and we'll play our favorite requests on the show! The number to call is (540) - DBGEEK-1 (or (540) 324-3351). That number will take you straight to our voice mail hotline. Don't be shy! We had some great feedback on the recent 1975 Year in Review show so we decided to jump back into the time machine and venture to another year. This time we're going back to the days of Atari, Dr. J, and Metallica before they became sycophantic Lou Reed cohorts. We're heading back to 1983. This Year in Review episode has got a little bit of everything from the pop culture stew of 1983. There was a lot going on in the entertainment world from M.A.S.H. ending its legendary run atop the television world to the release of the tragedy-laden movie version of The Twilight Zone movie. We touch on that stuff but we're a music show, right? The musical landscape of

Networks, KISS Reviews, and The Group Thing We've been awfully theme-y lately and decided to spend this week doing what we do best; being unorganized and playing whatever we feel from our iPod. Before we get to the  music, we've got a few news items. Cue the teletype: We're now a part of a cult! Decibel Geek Podcast is now a proud member of the Auralgasm Podcasting Network. Don't fear, this doesn't mean that you'll be squirting from your ears in the future. It simply means that we were selected from a large group of entries to be a member of this new podcasting network for independent, high-quality shows. The majority of the shows on the network are comedy based so we're not sure if that means we are funny or unintentionally funny. Either way, we're thrilled to be part of this new and growing network. Head over to Auralgasm to see our dedicated show page with custom artwork. And while you're there, check out some of the other shows. We have and they've made us laugh. We're just sayin'. This week Chri

Chris and a raspy-voiced Aaron Camaro return this week with a trip into the past. We're adjusting our flux capacitor and taking the wayback machine to 1975; an era where people wore bellbottoms, platform shoes, and had ridiculous haircuts without a shred of irony.  While there was plenty of music to vomit over, there was also lots of cool rock being put out into the ether. We take some time to share that music in today's episode as well as our discussion of some news events that happened throughout the year. So, kick back, grab a quaalude, and take off those Toughskins while we take a look at 1975. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a week spent in Bizarro World, we're back to discuss something *GASP* KISS-related. We'll give you a second to pick your jaw back up. Ready? Okay. The Tour With the recent announcement of the upcoming Summer tour featuring KISS & Motley Crue, we decided that now is as good a time as ever to devote a show to our favorite Starchild, Paul Stanley. The Starchild For almost 40 years, Paul Stanley has provided audiences all over the world some awesome musical contributions. No matter what is in fashion, be it disco, new romantic, heavy metal, hair metal, etc, Paul has been able to tap into a genre and produce relevant results. The List Today, Mitch Lafon of Bravewords.com joins Chris Czynszak for a discussion of their favorite Paul Stanley-penned KISS tunes. Co-host Aaron Camaro has his voice in the shop this week for repair but does chime in during the intro and outro of the show. He will be back next week. The Tribute Today's show is dedicated to the memory of Tony Whitfield; a Decibel Gee

After a quick week off, we're back and we're spinning more covers but things are a little different this time. We're not going with tried and true covers this time. This time, we're going into the Bizarro World with some of the strangest rock and metal covers that still kick ass. These are tunes that were not necessarily originally intended for the rock and metal world but some visionary artists decided to show that, as Autograph, prophesied back in the 1980's, things go better with rock! We start the show with some talk about our recent discussion with Jan Kuehnemund of Vixen and the response we received as well as the swell new look of our official website and news on our Facebook fan page. We had to whore ourselves out a little. Moving on, we get into the music with our lone straight ahead rock cover. We had to go with this track because we couldn't squeeze it in on the Under Covers episode and it just plain kicks ass (regardless of band members' political views). We're not going to be spoilers

Anyone that was around during the glam rock era of the late 1980’s remembers the teased hair, lipstick, and revealing clothing. There was also a female rock band named Vixen that was giving the pretty boys a run for their money in the hooks and looks department. Plus, you could unashamedly stare at them and drool without requiring therapy in later years. We recently had an opportunity to spend some time chatting with founding guitarist Jan Kuehnemund about all things Vixen and some theories on the music business in general. Jan gave us all the details of the current Kickstarter project that Vixen has launched to help fund their next album. We take a trip down memory lane from Jan’s early days forming Vixen in St. Paul, Minnesota with high school friends to their journey out west to Los Angeles in the early 1980’s. It certainly was not an overnight success story for Kuehnemund  as she struggled for a number of years moving Vixen forward while enduring demanding producers and numerous lineup changes.

We have a jam packed episode filled with tons of music you may have never heard as well as a couple of tracks that you certainly won't want to hear again! Aaron and Chris take you through a journey of some of their all-time favorite hard rock and metal cover songs in this special edition of the Radio Sucks Radio Show - Under Covers. In this episode, you will get lots of great cover songs performed by artists such as Sebastian Bach, Metallica, Ace Frehley, Ugly Kid Joe, and Tuff among many others.  We also introduce a new segment to the show this week with 'Defend Your iPod'. In this new feature, Aaron and Chris put each other on trial over a song that is found on each others iPod. We think you will find the choices and revelations in this segment riveting, revolting, and downright weird. The only clue we'll give you is one song is angelic while the other explains how a redneck outing can be just what the doctor ordered when you lose an appendage. There's lots of music-y goodness for your head hole

We’re very excited to bring you this week’s episode. Today, we give you our recent conversation with Eddie Trunk. Mostly known from That Metal Show on VH1 Classic, Eddie has a rich rock and metal history that we delve into in this hour-plus in-depth discussion. From High School Student to Record Executive We venture back to Eddie’s teen years when he was introduced to the radio industry via a college station that taught radio basics to high school students. That led to his employment at a record store located across the street from a local rock and roll radio station in New Jersey. After a run of turning the radio station employees on to a number of rock and metal bands that they were ignoring, Trunk decided to take matters into his own hands and produced a deejay demo tape through a friends pirate radio station. The tape was good enough to earn him an internship at WDHA and later, his own show. While earning his stripes in rock radio, Trunk met Jon Zazula, then a local record shop owner. Zazula was starti

You just keep coming back to get your ears blasted and we thank you! Last week's Eric Carr episode really took off and we want to welcome all the new listeners. For the uninitiated, we try to mix things up throughout the month. While we love doing the interviews and have plenty more for the future, we also like to showcase some music as we're doing today. Corporate radio sucks. That statement is about as simple as saying that the sky is blue or Nickelback is the antithesis to good music. With that said, Aaron Camaro & Chris Czynszak set out each month to play you some deep cuts from rock and metal history that the payola-induced corporate fat cats shudder away from. This is the Radio Sucks Radio Show part 4! We've got a full slab of great music for you today. We start things off with a Motorhead track from the 'Iron Fist' album followed by a KISS track off 1974's Hotter than Hell. Our first break is comprised of a flashback commercial featuring an unlikely pairing between two acts; especially when you cons

A Sister’s Culminating Tribute & Mom’s a Groupie? In Episode 19 we chat with Loretta Caravello, sibling of the late, great Eric Carr of KISS fame.  Eric was taken way too early from the rock music world and Loretta has continued to keep his memory alive with the recent release of ‘Unfinished Business’; an album featuring now-completed versions of Eric’s songs that were previously incomplete. The songs are rounded out by a cast of special guests from the rock and metal world including Bruce Kulick (KISS), John Humphrey (Seether), and Ted Poley (Danger Danger) among others. The discussion starts with talk of the new album including Loretta’s memory of discovering Eric’s 1980 KISS audition tape and how his rendition of Shandi was the only track recorded in stereo on the tape, thus allowing its completion on Unfinished Business. Chris goes on to tell Loretta his Eric Carr story that involves car trouble after a KISS concert and his mother being mistaken for a lovesick groupie. Listen to the story, it makes mo

Where There’s a Will (& Enough Alcohol) There’s a Way For those of you that saw the post that was put up yesterday, you already know that Chris has had the week from hell and Aaron also had some rough news over the past seven days.  But, have no fear, another episode is here! We may be a day late but we’ve got all the bottom-end that you can handle and we’re not talking about Kim Kardashian (thanks for the extra hits Google Alerts). We’re picking our Top 6 Favorite Bassists today! Why 6 and not the requisite 5 that we always do? Well, you’ll have to listen to the episode to figure that one out but let’s just say that it was due to one of the hosts and it wasn’t the buzzed one. The Joy of Hops & Bulletproof Vests We eagerly anticipate a shitstorm of hatred from this episode since it’s about as subjective as it gets. What were our criteria? Well, this week Chris was going through so much that his criteria was basically, pick bassists that he digs and that are memorable. Aaron on the other hand did h

Diamond Dave & The Hype Machine For anyone living under a rock or not named Sammy Hagar, the hype surrounding the recently-released single and forthcoming album from Van Halen has sparked loads of excitement and speculation whether the new tunes will cause us to break out our Rubik’s Cube and ponder the days of bellbottoms through Wall Street excess.  The first album released by a David Lee Roth-fronted Van Halen since 1984; ‘A Different Kind of Truth’ promises to illicit reactions of all kinds on February 7th, when it’s released. The newly released single, ‘Tattoo’ has drawn mixed reviews as well.  The Car’s Out of the Garage & News You Can Use We are without co-host Aaron Camaro this week, as he’s on assignment with one of his other ventures. Never fear though, we brought in guest commentator Mitch Lafon from Bravewords.com this week. Before we delve into Van Halen, we have a few news items to discuss in the intro to the show. By the way, if you want to skip straight to the Van Halen discussion, it st

It’s the New Style for the New Year You’ll notice a change immediately during the theme song; an abrupt belch which is a sign of something new. We’re giving this whole live recording thing a shot and you’ll hear everything in this episode warts-n-all including Aaron and Chris stumbling over words, getting tongue tied, and sound effects going off without warning. It’s as unprofessional as it gets but at least it’s entertaining. Plus, Chris doesn’t have to play around with hours of editing so hopefully this will be a welcome change that will provide more content in the future. We start out talking about what we got for KISSMAS including Aaron’s review of the Ace Frehley autobiography, ‘No Regrets’ and the cool new Rocksmith game. We update Vinnie Vincent’s output for the holidays. Impressive! Chris gives a shout out to Cassius Morris from the Creatures of the Net podcast who recently did an impromptu interview with Eric Singer who called in during his live stream. Cassius is only 13 years old but is already

We decided that we wanted to have a healthy dose of pissed-off listeners and were pretty sure that this episode is a prescription for just that. The early 1990s for us old folks that remember it was a strange and magical time for rock music. Lots of transition was taking place in the pecking order of rock musics hierarchy with the mass music-consuming public deciding to ditch the Aqua Net and makeup mirrors and adopt a lumberjack-chic style to go along with their newfound depression.  In a quest to try and come up with a tougher Top 5 list than our previous episode that involved Top 5 Non-Makeup Era KISS Songs we decided to try and pigeonhole 5 albums out of this crazy matrix of material that was being produced in this Gulf War era of change. Full shownotes at www.dbgeekshow.blogspot.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We hope everyone is over their tryptophan-induced coma. Thanksgiving was a great time for us at the Decibel Geek Podcast. We had a lot to be thankful for this year. We launched the show this year and added co-host Aaron Camaro.  Our audience is growing and we love talking about music! In short, we’re thankful to YOU for listening to the show. Today’s episode is a Nashville X-tra episode. We kick things off with a new Rage Against the Scene segment where Chris reviews some recent articles from the Nashville Scene and his reaction is not totally what you would expect. Could Chris be moonlighting as a hipster and disguising himself in skinny jeans, bad facial hair, and a bowler hat? Doubtful, but you’ll have to check out the segment to find out. Chris also has a bone to pick with 102.9 The Buzz. There’s been a lot of aggression building up over The Buzz in recent years and Chris is ready to let it all out. Hear his thoughts on their choice to constantly spin 90’s tunes and the complete degradation of The Buzz A

Another new episode already?? I know, it’s hard to believe but we just might be figuring out this whole podcasting thing and we’ve tried to cut back on the crack smoking in order to get some new material up for your ear holes. In this, our 12th episode, the Decibel Geek Podcast proudly presents the Radio Sucks Radio Show. No, we’re not talking about two boom boxes giving each other head (although that is a stimulating idea). Corporate radio sucks ass. We know that you agree. Why else would you be checking out podcasts? With that thinking, we decided that we’d ignore our non-existent Program Director and play songs that we think are cool. You’ll actually get to hear stuff that hasn’t been drilled into your head for the past 30 years on a repetitive basis in order to fill a payola scheme for the sake of freebies and concert tickets. This will become a regular feature on the Decibel Geek Podcast in the future; as long as we don’t get sued. We took pains to make sure that you hear the vast majority of these gre