Decibel Geek Podcast

With KISSMAS in July just around the corner, we'll be knee-deep in the Hottest Band in the Land when Independence Day rolls around but we still wanted to celebrate America's birthday. We decided to do our Patriotic duty and spin some rock songs about America this week.  Before we get down to business, we name Jay Hardman Geek of the Week for his hilarious response to a "Pick Your Poison" question on the Decibel Geek facebook fan page that pertains to some of Metallica's more "experimental" projects. Chris attended the Geoff Tate-led version of Queensryche's performance at War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville. In this review, you'll hear his thoughts on the band's performance, concert attendence (or lack thereof), and his memories of the meet & greet after the concert.  We kick off our ear-bleeding tribute to America with some love for the USA from a Canadian as Sebastian Bach performs 'American Metalhead' from 2007's Angel Down album. The Offspring are well-known for their tongue-in-cheek, sil

It may not be well-known but, according to the National Eye Institute, May is Healthy Vision Month. We thought we would help spread the word and enjoy some good music at the same time. Here's what the National Eye Institute wants to tell you: "Millions of people living in the United States have undetected vision problems, eye diseases, and conditions. HVM is designed to elevate vision as a health priority for the Nation by promoting the importance of early detection and treatment, as well as the use of proper eye safety practices, in preventing vision loss and blindness. One of the most important things people can do to protect their vision is to schedule a comprehensive dilated eye exam. In this painless procedure, an eye care professional examines the eyes to look for common vision problems and eye diseases, many of which have no early warning signs. A comprehensive dilated eye exam can detect eye diseases and conditions in their early stages, before vision loss occurs. Early detection and treatment c

We're back this week to discuss the first half of a very transitional year in music history. 1979 was a true crossroads for rock music fans; with the genre splitting into multiple sub-genres and another genre that ruled the world becoming passe. The "Year of the Child" kicked off with the Music for UNICEF concert featuring pop tarts such as ABBA, Donna Summer & the Bee Gees performing sets on January 9th. Any chance Chris & Aaron decided to spotlight any of those artists this week? If you said yes, welcome new listener. We cover January with a track by alt-rocker Joe Jackson that would go on to become one of the more well-known tracks from thrashers Anthrax. Also included for the first month of the year are clips from the debut album by Accept & a track from UFO that will leave you with palpitations. February saw the passing of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious due to a heroin overdose the day after being released from prison. We listen to a clip of Sid of vocals for the Pistols from their Great Ro

That's right everyone it's time for another "Radio Sucks" episode of the Decibel Geek Podcast because as you know, radio sucks. So once again Chris and AAron put on the DJ hats and spin some great music that you probably will not hear on your radio dial. So just sit back, relax, open your ears real wide and say "give it to me straight Decibel Geek Podcast. I can take it!" Chris' pick of Heaven's Basement performing "I Am Electric" is a testament to how important you, the listener, are to this show as a suggestion from listener Devin Fox impressed us so much that it took the place of one of our previously picked songs. This is a great, energetic track from their debut album Filthy Empire that starts the show off right. Dig it! Up next is "Tomorrow Never Comes" from Saints of the Underground, the heavy metal super-group featuring members of Ratt, Warrant, Alice Cooper. From the 2008 release "Love the Sin, Hate the Sinner" this would be Jani Lane's last full length album release, he passed away on

After taking a 2 week long look at 1986, we're taking a detour back to Bizarro World with our third installment of Bizarro Covers. What are Bizarro Covers, you ask? Basically, these are songs that were not originally considered hard rock/metal (mostly) and are being covered by, you guessed it, hard rock and metal bands. There's no shortage of strange cover songs out there and we're happy to share, what we think, are some of the best.  We start things off with Yngwie Malmsteen's take on an ABBA disco classic. Of course, Yngwie shows complete restraint; letting the song breathe and allow lots of open space to take in the lyrics.....NOT. Either way, it's an interesting approach to this sugary pop number. Next up is a case of Germany covering Australia as power metal veterans Sinner cover the Midnight Oil 80's classic Beds Are Burning. We keep the German theme going with power/speed metal legends Blind Guardian's 1996 cover of the 1954 Chordettes sugary Mr. Sandman. Not quite as snuggly as the ori

Continuing our journey through 1986, Chris and Aaron jump right into their spandex pants and get things rolling. Chris gets the shredding started with his first pick, Vinnie Vincent Invasion's "Do You Wanna Make Love?" Not just one former Kiss guitarist was busy in 1986. The same year Vinnie Vincent invaded, Mark St. John also released new music with White Tiger. The self titled debut album also featured Mike Norton (Mark's brother) on bass and David Donato on lead vocals. Aaron's pick from the album is "Runaway". Keeping in line with the Kiss Guitar Tri-fecta, next up is a band produced by Gene Simmons and featuring future Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer. Black n Blue release Nasty Nasty and the title track is chosen as the third pick of the show. Always room for Motorhead "Built for Speed" from 86's Orgasmatron album is Aaron's next pick. Although with such a heavy, awesome album it was tough to choose just one. Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet album released in 1986 would go on to be the best selli

Jerry Gaskill, longtime drummer for King's X, was in Nashville this week to resume his work with friend/producer/collaborator D.a. Karkos of Underdog Studios; work that had started in January of 2012 but was delayed for a few reasons. Jerry and D.a. were both kind enough to sit down with Decibel Geek Podcast host Chris Czynszak to discuss it all. On February 26th Gaskill suffered a massive heart attack and briefly died before being saved via emergency surgery. In this conversation, Jerry shares what he went through during this time as well as how the presence of his then-fiancee Julie most certainly is the reason he is still alive today.  After news broke of the heart attack, fans of Jerry from all over the globe pitched in in the form of donations and benefit shows to help out the legendary drummer during his road to recovery.  With his body healed, Jerry and Julie tied the knot in Las Vegas just before King's X went back on a brief tour with Kansas in September. Things were looking up.....until O

We hope you are strapped and and have checked your tire pressure because this week we put the pedal to the metal (and rock) with volume 1 of Camaro's Cut Out Bin.  What is Camaro's Cut Out Bin? Decibel Geek co-host Aaron Camaro is like a bloodhound when it comes to tracking down good tunes at a low cost. He's amassed an enormous collection of music from garage sales, yard sales, thrift stores, and used book/record shops and this week you'll hear some of the results.  To go in depth about every artist played this week would take forever. In truth, most of these groups, you've never even heard of. So, with that said, here's a list of what is played in this episode: Krokus - Round 13 (1999) – Phonag RecordsSong Clip – “Blood Comes Easy” The Panic Channel – One (2006) - Capitol RecordsSong Clip – “Left to Lose” Drama Queen Die – Self Titled Debut (2003) – Independent ReleaseSong Clip – “One Thing or Another” Nerf Herder – Self-Titled Debut (

We know, we know; a Best of year-end episode is not very original and many of our podcasting brothers-in-arms have done or are doing the same but you've gotta admit, 2012 was a great year for rock/metal music! LA Guns returned to form in 2012 withe solid release of Hollywood Forever. Produced by the legendary Andy Johns, the album is, in essence, a love letter to the Sunset Strip scene that launched the band over 25 years ago. Aaron's choice of a track from this solid release is a natural choice. While we start the show with a band with a serious amount of work in its canon; Chris' choice of a track from Sweden's Eclipse comes from just their sophomore album. We can thank YOU the listener for this as this band was suggested to us throughout the year and has gone on to become one of our favorites. Great, melodic hard rock with a metal tinge. We follow Eclipse up with a pair of tracks from some hard rock and metal legends respecively. First, Aaron spins a track from the fantastic new album by Overk

Since the world didn't come to an end last week (check out our Songs for the Apocalypse episode), we are thrilled that we can celebrate Christmas with you all! Since the very beginning of the Decibel Geek Podcast, we've received an increasing number of requests for a Motley Crue special. So, with this being the season of giving, this week we decided to have A Very Motley X-mas. In this episode, Chris & Aaron randomly select albums from the Crue's 30+ studio discography and spin one song they'd like to share with the listeners from each. You'll hear songs from the 1981 debut, Too Fast for Love, all the way through 2008's Saints of Los Angeles. Also included in this episode are a couple of our famous Deep Thoughts With....segments; this week including one from Nikki Sixx and one from Tommy Lee. Thought provoking stuff, indeed. With Motley Crue, controversy is never far away and their press headlines tend to overshadow a lot of great hard rock music. With that in mind, we made a conscious effort

When we did our Library of Loud episode in September, our special guest that week was Tales from the Stage author Michael Toney. During that conversation, Michael mentioned that he had recently started managing guitarist Jeff Duncan. Immediately, gears started turning in our heads to get the Odin/Armored Saint/DC4 guitarist on the show. Thanks to the generosity of Mr. Toney, we're able to bring you our conversation with Mr. Duncan this week. Jeff Duncan started playing guitar at the young age of 10 after being inspired by his professional musician-father. In this discussion, Jeff shares how he was exposed to a variety of music through his father; from 1950's do-wop to 60's-era singer/songwriter styles such as Cat Stevens. But, it was Jeff's discovery of Black Sabbath that put him the path to hard rock and heavy metal that he would embark upon.  With the formation of Odin in the early 1980's, Jeff Duncan quickly became a staple of the burgeoning Sunset Strip rock music scene. After a number of years of

After the great response we received from Part 3 of our Vinnie Vincent special with special guest Robert Fleischman, we decided to round things off with Part 4 this week. First up is Chris' conversation with Hirsh Gardner. Hirsh is most well-known as the drummer for late 70's band New England. New England's first album was produced by KISS' Paul Stanley and the band opened for KISS on their 1979 Dynasty tour. What many people may not know is that Hirsh was creatively involved with Vinnie Vincent in projects that predate his involvement with KISS as well as the Vinnie Vincent Invasion. Hirsh Gardner 1980 In this discussion, Hirsh recounts his memories of being introduced to Vinnie through Gene Simmons, demo sessions with Vinnie on some songs that wound up later being used by Invasion as well as KISS, his admiration for Vinnie's underrated vocal ability, and his memory of Vinnie telling him that he was offered the lead guitarist slot in KISS. Hirsh also shares his memories of reconnecting with Vin

We were all set to release a very big interview-based episode this week with producer/engineer extraordinaire Toby Wright until we discovered that the week of Thanksgiving (here in the U.S.) is not particularly kind to podcasts as many listeners are on holiday and podcasts, by nature, are consumed by a large number of listeners while on the job. With that in mind, we wanted to make sure our conversation gets the exposure it deserves so we are pushing it back by a week. In the meantime, this week we give you a music-based taste of the massively impressive Toby Wright discography. Episode 60 - The Wright to Rock gives you a heaping helping of Rock & Metal to tide you through until next week. We open the show with a kicking track from Corrosion of Conformity's 1994 Deliverance album before seguing into System of a Down recording a blinding Black Sabbath cover for 2000's Nativity in Black II album. One of the most interesting stories that will be revealed in next week's conversation with Toby Wright will b

This is not a test! We have "jammed the transmission" and taken over the Decibel Geek Podcast. Consider this the Hostile Hoser Hijack as this week your favorite podcast has been taken hostage by CANADIANS! Consider this episode as a sequel to the previous Radio Sucks - Canadian Edition show but this time broadcast from the pirate studio in the Great White North. Chris and Aaron get to take the week off whether they expected to or not! Your hijacker hosts, Wally Norton and Rich Dillon dig through some of their Canadian Cd's in hope of turning on the Decibel Geek Army to some new sounds from north of the border. Things get rolling with Automan.ca a new Canadian band featuring a familiar name. Front man Darrell "Dwarf" Millar (Killer Dwarfs) has stepped out from behind the drums and exercises his vocals with "Back in the Sun" Wally dedicates his first pick to Aaron Camaro who mentioned Slik Toxic on the last Canadian episode. From the "Doin the Nasty" album comes "Cheap Nicotine". Slik Toxic's vocalis

Few things are more synonymous with Rock and Roll than drinking. Like peanut butter needs jelly or carrots need peas, Rock and Roll tends to go down easier with alcohol. Of course, no one probably ever woke up hungover in a stranger's bed after eating vegetables. But, we digress. This week, Aaron and Chris pick their Top 5 Drinking Songs. With the huge plethora of choices out there, this was a pretty tough list to put together and there are tons of other choices that could have been made but who's to say this subject won't be revisited in the future? Things start off on a humorous note with a track from Buckcherry's Black Butterfly album that describes the frustration that many of us of the male persuasion have endured due to excessive imbibing of substances crossed with an opportunity for companionship.  Next up is a track from Guns N Roses' legendary debut album that speaks from a directive point of view and also predicts a hazy night ahead. That track segues into a tune from Thin Lizzy's 1979 Black

After having a great time discussing the first half of the Year 2000,  we're back this week to finish it off as we cover July through December of Y2K. We lead things off with some stories from 2000 including the AOL (remember them?) merger with Time Warner, the first season of Survivor, and the Elian Gonzalez custody drama that had America on the edge of its seat. Jumping into July, we discuss Rage Against the Machine's free concert outside the Democratic National Convention in protest to the two-party system. If you've paid attention since then, not much has changed but they get an "A" for effort.  We spin a variety of artists in our coverage of July and August of 2000 including clips from newer groups such as Jack Off Jill and Mudvayne as well as tried and true rockers such as UFO and Motley Crue. We also include a track that slipped our mind during part one but was too good not to include. September saw Rage Against the Machine back in the headlines as bassist Tim Commerford is arrested for

We're back this week with a second helping of our live recording at the recent Nashville Comic & Horror Festival and this time we have some company. Our good friends from the PWA Show dropped by to help us create an all-covers show that is certainly like no other that we've done. We're sure that some of the choices today will either make you want to jump for joy or want to reach through the ipod and strangle us. Either way, we don't think you'll be bored.  The PWA Show is hosted by Dave and Korey and posts new episodes, like us, every week. What do they cover on the PWA Show? Well, just about anything. Their off-the-cuff, stream of consciousness conversations are pretty interesting and give you a fly-on-the-wall feeling when listening. Check them out and give them a listen. We consider them our brothers-in-podcasting.  We kick things off with Chris' pick of a industrialized version of a Zeppelin classic before going to Dave's pick of a KISS classic covered by a group of Alternative pioneers from Minn

On Saturday October 6th, the Decibel Geek podcast ventured out of the bat cave to meet a large contingent of fellow Geeks at the Nashville Comic & Horror Festival. With a ton of amazing folks wearing wild costumes and special guests including Ernie Hudson in full Ghostbusters gear, it was a bit distracting recording on-location but we still want to share the experience with you in this week's episode; Radio Sucks Radio Show volume 8! Our mobile producer Marc Bullard joins us on the mic this week as the three of us select a truly eclectic mix of tunes are you are not likely to hear on your payola-funded corporate radio station. We kick things off with Marc's pick of a track from Skid Row's Slave to the Grind album that will make you go ape followed by a gut-wrenching track from Alice in Chains' Dirt album. Aaron spins a celebratory tune from The Donnas before coming out of our first break with Marc's pick of a newer track from Extreme followed by a more recent tender-loving song from Motley Cru

While our Year in Review shows tend to have a great response each time out for the wealth of information that we try to squeeze in each time and numerous song clips that we attempt to shoehorn in; we've also plenty of folks tell us that they like when we spin more than 1:00-1:30 length clips of songs and prefer to hear more music. This week's show is our attempt to satisfy that contingent....with a twist! Instead of just a typical show spinning songs from the chosen previous Year in Review, we decided to explore a new option of entertainment with a Decibel Geek episode from 1991! We dug through the archives and dusted off this episode of a very young Chris and Aaron and you'll get to hear where their minds were at (when not "using" the Sears catalog) and their opinions of the bands of the day as well as the changes in the ever-shifting music industry. We hope you will enjoy this rare look back to a simpler time in our lives and some great music that we were digging on in those days. Thanks for joining

After a great week of getting Ugly with Whitfield Crane, we return to fill your head with loud, auditory goodness. Radio Sucks Radio Show vol 7 is here! This weeks Geek of the Week is Dan Miles! Dan is the host of the Friends of Dan Music Podcast and we're thrilled to call him a friend as his podcast features some great in-depth conversations with some real insiders of the music industry. He recently talked to Simpsons music composer Alf Clausen about his 40+ years in the industry and we highly recommend his Jim Morrison episode that features the Lizard King expressing himself between takes while in the recording studio. Dan is a great supporter of the Decibel Geek podcast and we thank him this week by bestowing this great honor on him ;-) We've got a ton of diversity for you this week for the 7th edition of the Radio Sucks Radio Show. We start things off with a great track from the Sabbath w/Dio era album Mob Rules before launching into a track from Warrant that could easily be described as everythi