[To the Max – A Tribute To Rab] Life is an interesting journey. You meet many people along the way. Some you like, some you don’t. Then there are those special people that come into your life that are something more. They provide inspiration. They make you feel special. And most of all, they change who you are for the better. Rob Cranny was one of those people. On Saturday, April 21, the world lost one of its true shining lights. Rob – known to his friends as Rab – was one of the most unique, fun-loving, and just plain beautiful people that I have ever had the esteemed honor of having in my life…

[70,000 Tons of Metal 2012 Review Part II] Others and myself had an excursion planned out that would take us to a few different local spots. Firstly, it took us to a small town/landmark aptly named “Hell.” Yes, you read that correctly. The landmark is a large black limestone formation. The name came from a local official who deemed the formation being “what hell must look like.” Interesting, for sure, and a cool work of nature to see. Of course, it’s merchandised like mad, with a few gift shops, and a real post office. Yes, you can send a postcard from Hell. I passed on doing so, but regret it due to the cheesy irony in hindsight.

[70,000 Tons of Metal 2012 Review Part I] A full-on heavy metal cruise. The very idea of having a floating metal festival was one that many wouldn’t have even conjured up, let alone attempt to execute. Who would have thought that would have ever became a reality? There were certainly doubts on my end of such an event ever happening, as the very concept seemed like a herculean task. To the surprise of many, however, that very event happened in January of 2011. Nobody could have possibly predicted how it would play out, and to those who read my review of the inaugural journey, then you know just how unique and spectacular of an event it was. The question is this: are you ready for round two?

[Moonspell - Peeling the Second Skin] “To come from Portugal means a lot for us and not all is good. We’re a forgotten country; nobody expects nothing from, least at all, a heavy metal band. Just to travel to the shows from here is a nightmare; we’re far from where things are happening. All we have was conquered inch by inch and we’re always able to keep our expectations real. There is always more than meets the eye of the crowd, the story they tell about you is not really what you’re living. And to know that is what keeps your head above the waters.” - Fernando Ribeiro

[Label Profile: Gravedancer Records] “I would rather have a few career artists that are, for want of a better word, timeless instead of having 10 bands trying to be the next Asking Alexandria. To me, it's not a good image to have a ton of bands trying to chase the success that another band has already won at. Plus, that's not the scene that I identify with anyway. All in all, it's a recipe for disaster. I'd much rather find bands that have a unique sound that I really love. Those are the bands that are around 20-30 years later.” – Josh Eldridge

[Municipal Waste – Chicken Wings and Thrash] “That was for the press. We were sick of everyone dubbing us as that ‘party band’ and asking us, ‘What was the craziest party you’ve ever been to?’ and shooting silly string in our face for a photo shoot. We wrote a party record [2007’s The Art of Partying]…cool and I love getting wasted and partying, and I still do. The band is our job and we take it seriously, but we’ve been known as a fun band; we’re still the same band. We’re up there and having fun, entertaining.” – Ryan Waste

[Unleashed - Who Says Change Is A Good Thing?] “I can’t speak for others, but in our case, and I believe it's the same for many others, it's purely financial, unfortunately. There's just so many more costs involved going overseas which makes it hard to get it together. Personally I think it’s great touring the States, and I’d do it for free if I could. But we, as everyone else, have bills to pay and families to feed. Hopefully we'll be able to get it done soon though.” - Anders Schultz

[Desultor – Future Bleed Machine] “It´s like a big musical playground for us. There is no rules or laws, it´s up to us to do whatever we want to do. We decide our own rules. We don’t care if people wouldn’t like our stuff, we would still continue playing our stuff. There are too many rules and principals in metal these days and we prefer to think outside the box, so we prefer to work this way. No, there are no difficulties to put clean vocals, it´s just plain fun to me. Only difficulties is that there is no studio that can record clean vocals to extreme music because they are used to record growl and black metal screams, so it´s always pre-adjusted to that kind of vocals.” – Markus Joha

[Overkill – Hello From the Golden Gutter Age] “I don’t think anyone would say that to us, and we’re explosive people. I don’t think we’re the kind of guys you see walking down the street that you would say that to [laughs]. Even if they did, it was never a concern of ours; we didn’t care what they thought, it was what we thought. I remember talking to DD [Verni, bass] about a record, I think The Killing Kind and I was talking about something I wanted specifically and he said, ‘Sure, let’s give it a shot. Who cares? We’ve been over since Horrorscope anyway.’ [laughs] There’s a beauty in that statement, which is, you’ve got nothing to lose. “ - Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth

[3 Inches of Blood – Heavy Metal, Or No Metal At All] “Touring in general just rules, period! Metal and rock and roll is something we have in common with every band we ever tour with, but it is awesome to see a tour with a variety of music. Granted, we've never been asked to tour with any pop bands. It would probably get boring if you toured with only one specific style of bands. We've toured with Goatwhore, Type O Negative, Toxic Holocaust, Cancer Bats, etc. so many to list, but touring with those bands are great. We all sound different, and they were awesome shows with very killer well-rounded metal crowds.” – Justin Hagberg

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