rock

Rock for Life Concert Series

In this episode, Bill sits down with Matt Ferrante, co-founding member of the Rock for life Concert Series, to discuss the history of the show and how it has evolved over the years into a concert series. They discuss topics such as: how a recipient is picked, what people can do to help out, how bands can play the shows, & upcoming shows. Matt also let’s everyone know the costs of both the indoor and outdoor shows, as well as, what a qualified guest means. All in all, this is a very informative discussion about the Rock for life organization and concert series. It is the mission of Rock for Life to provide financial support to needy individuals residing in Western PA who are suffering from life threatening diseases. Rock for Life sponsors music festivals and other music-related and general fundraising events to raise the monies necessary to support its purpose. Rock for Life’s Past Recipients 2016 – 17 – TBD 2015 – 16 – Sydney Brison & Leeland Wensel 2014 – 15 – Abby Bowser 2013 – 14 – Alicia Hruby 2012 – 13 – Brittani Kemerer 2011 – 12 – Wesley Zablocki 2010 – 11 – Aaron Jones 2009 – X – Savanah Robledo 2008 – 9 – Mikey McCulley 2007 – 8 – David Heidel 2006 – 7 – Owen Hunter 2005 – 6 – Alexander Hooks 2004 – 5 – Jasmine Henry 2003 – 4 – The Helping Hands Society 2002 – 3 – Jonathan Beck 2001 – 2 – Christina Calendrella 2000 – 1 – Mark Gregory Official Rock for Life Concert Series Website Rock for Life’s Facebook Rock for Life’s Twitter Iselin Ballfield Give us some Feedback: Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on iTunes Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on MixCloud Subscribe, Review, & Rates us on Google Play E-mail: feedback@buildthescene.com Call Us: 724-568-7018 Join Our Mailing List Submit Your Own Music: Submission Form Book your Band: Booking Form Get our App: iPhone

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Kill the Drama of the Basement Recordings

  Bill joins Kill the Drama in their practice studio for some chat and live music. Segment 1: Bill talks to them about their current recording process, which they mention is very different than how they used to do it. During segment one, they play their song The Frail and the Fray (Live) for us! They are planning on recording in volume first, and then cut a few songs, b side a few songs, and go from there. That transitioned into a discussion about digital vs cd vs vinyl, and we even talk about 8 tracks. Bill then asked the band to discuss the state of the local scene and how it has morphed over the years. The first segment ended with them playing The Burning Streets (live) in their studio. Segment 2: Opens with with a live, brand new track from Kill the Drama entitled Insurresurrection. They then discussed the logistics of the Stone Temple Pilots’ holding “open” auditions on the internet to replace their lead singer. Which changed the focus of the conversation to how Brian joined Kill the Drama and a bit of the history of the band and bands from the AK Valley. I also gave the band a chance to talk about the support that our local radio stations provide for the local scene. This segment ends with Kill the Drama playing another brand new song live for us, Caught in the Shadows. Segment 3: The band talks about when Brian tried out for the band and how they got the name Kill the Drama. They also talk about being the judges favorite band in the Graffiti Rock Challenge, but not actually winning the competition. They also explain why KTD decided to return to the stage. And since the conversation had wavered into the world of the major rock scene, we discussed Motley Crue calling it quits and Steven Tyler’s crossover to country music. We end the segment with one more brand new track played live by KTD, Ophelia Mary Grace. Find them: www.killthedramamusic.com www.facebook.com/killthedramamusic Things mentioned: Total Music & Entertainment Jergels Iron City Rocks: Pittsburgh Music Awards Give us some Feedback: Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on iTunes Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on MixCloud E-mail: feedback@buildthescene.com Call Us: 724-568-7018 Join Our Mailing List Submit Your Own Music: Submission Form Book your Band: Booking Form Get our App: iPhone

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A Stark Reality

Leeja Stark Band What do Panic at the Disco & Queen have in common? Leeja Stark. Leeja joins us this month for her first visit on the show. We discuss the local scene including bands like Amber Alexis, skell, The Bloody Seamen, & Dethelehem. She talks about the Women of Metal show that the band played with Beyond Eden, Mind Maze, & A Sound of thunder. Leeja spoke about their work with producer Ulrich Wild (Pantera, Otep, Stolen Babies, Emilie Autumn etc) on their latest EP and how they are currently working on writing a new LP with him. She speaks on how the band has handled song writing in the past and how it progressed over the years. Leeja admits not knowing who Alice Cooper was when being told that her band’s song Welcome to the Night and her theatrics that go along with it in the video reminded them of his song Welcome to My Nightmare. @skellmetal @TheBloodySeamen @dethlehem @beyondeden10 @MindMazeband @asotband @iAmUlrichWild Biography Leeja Stark is an American Experimental Rock band from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. The band finds influences in rock legends (David Bowie, Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Freddie Mercury, King Crimson, Stevie Nicks, etc). Their sound has progressed from electronic rock to electronic progressive rock over the last 2 EP’s becoming more technical but remaining true to the lyrics and melody of each song. The goal of this band is to write great music. If it’s not about the music why play in a band? In early 2012, Leeja Stark released a concept EP called House of Eyes about a girl caught in the throes of the demon world. It begins with the song Supernatural in which an incantation to release the demon from the body is recited and ends with a chilling ballad Impossible Things that leaves the story to be continued as we find out she is with child. Also in 2012 they released a single, Symptoms of Insanity. The song is a duet featuring screamer Bret Stark. The video received almost 200,000 views in its first 24 hours on Youtube. In another song-writing collaboration, Leeja has co-written the song Charming Arms with producer/musician Christopher Lee Simmonds (Filter, Thought Industry, Good Charlotte, Marcy’s Playground). The message about the agony of drug abuse is written in Simmonds’ music as well as the lyrics. Charming Arms has been released in three forms; the original, a Dis-Honesty mix with an electronic dubstep sound, and the raw Honesty mix highlighting Leeja’s vocals. Most recently (2014-2015) LS has been working with producer Ulrich Wild (Pantera, Otep, Stolen Babies, Emilie Autumn etc) on their EP Cosmic Queen which was released April 9th 2015. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cosmic-queen-ep/id984380388 They also produced a vaudeville-esque music video for the song Welcome to the Night. On the horizon for the band is a 3rd EP, as well as numerous shows throughout the north east for the remainder of 2015. www.leejastark.com www.facebook.com/leejastark www.reverbnation.com/leejastark www.youtube.com/leejastark https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/house-of-eyes-ep/id771371921 Give us some Feedback: Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on iTunes Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on MixCloud E-mail: feedback@buildthescene.com Call Us: 724-568-7018 Join Our Mailing List Submit Your Own Music: Submission Form Book your Band: Booking Form Get our App: iPhone

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DiMonick Confessions…

DiMonick Confessions… 3 of the 4 members of Chip DiMonick join Bill to discuss over 10 years of Chip DiMonick. Bill asks them the normal questions so that you can get to know them. And apparently, so that the band can get to know each other as well. Bill asked, “What was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you on stage?” That’s when things got interesting and funny at the same time. Learn about this Punk errr rock errr metal band! Aired: December 2015 Length: 1:02:43 Official Website: www.chipdimonick.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChipDiMonickRocks Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/ChipDiMonick/videos Always a band to effortlessly – and sometimes controversially – mash up rock, metal, glam, and punk, Chip DiMonick has been on fire supporting their bombastic fifth album, Uncaged. This year is a milestone year for Chip DiMonick as it has recently claimed its third consecutive win as “Best Punk Band” in the Iron City Rocks Pittsburgh Music Awards and is celebrating 10 years since the release of its debut album, “Bat An Eyelash,” which the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called “the kind of record Tommy Lee would tell a girl to strip to.” READ MORE… The new album, “Uncaged,” is now available! You can purchase the physical CD or digital download from CD Baby at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/chipdimonick13. Digital downloads are also available on iTunes, Google Play Store, Amazon and most other major digital music outlets. Give us some Feedback: Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on iTunes Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on MixCloud E-mail: feedback@buildthescene.com Call Us: 724-568-7018 Join Our Mailing List Submit Your Own Music: Submission Form Book your Band: Booking Form Get our App: iPhone

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Tony Marinacci (TME) on the Pennsylvania Rock Show PARS

On September 2, 2015, Tony Marinacci passed away from his battle with cancer. Tony was a huge supporter of the Pennsylvania Rock Show and AK Music Scene. As a way of memorializing him, we put together an montage of all the interview portions from TME appearances on the Pennsylvania Rock Show. Tony’s mark on the Pennsylvania Rock Show and AK Music Scene are unable to be measured. He will be sorely missed. The Shows involving Mr. Marinacci Nied’s Hotel Band 05-11-2005 Tony Marinacci 09-21-2005 JJ Smith 05-19-2006 The Best of TME on PARS 08-04-2006 TME 04-17-2009 SickleEye 02-12-2012 Tony Marinacci 04-12-2012 Tony Marinacci 02-07-2014 Tony Marinacci is a professional producer, songwriter and musician. Currently, he runs an entertainment company – Total Music & Entertainment, multimedia recording studio and BMI affiliated music publishing company. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he is from one of the most accomplished and respected entertainment families to come from the area. Though his experience covers nearly every aspect of the entertainment industry, he has gained the most recognition as an audio engineer for major concerts and a wide range of world-class productions. His services are highly sought after by many live entertainment companies. His extensive studio capabilities also have him in very high demand. He has also been interviewed in MIX and EQ magazines as well as Variety, Billboard and many times in the Pittsburgh media. From the very beginning, Tony has always been around world-class entertainers. His first real experience came when he joined his father who was a Lighting Director for Tony Orlando and Dawn. Also part of that crew was his father’s cousin, John DeSantis, who was already one of the best Production Managers in the biz. Tony has always had excellent instruction and mighty big shoes to fill. Musically Tony learned piano while growing up in Pittsburgh. After his parents divorced he moved to California with his father. Growing up in the business as a 10-year-old kid in 1976, working on the road crew during summers and holidays. Being around professional musicians, he learned several other instruments, before finding his true love, and became an excellent guitarist. However, despite becoming a pretty good player, he realized that it would still be difficult to make a living being just a musician. Taking advantage of the professional entertainment environment around him, he was able to explore other production jobs. He gravitated towards sound and found that he was able to run mixing consoles. Soon, in 1982, he began helping doing sound for Tony Orlando. After moving back to Pittsburgh to graduate high school, Tony went right out on the road. He would soon earn a national reputation throughout the late 1980’s and 1990’s, as a great Audio Engineer while doing sound for many people, including larger Vegas acts, as well as stints with Bon Jovi and U2. This would also lead to mixing experiences in major recording studios including, The Record Plant and Electric Lady Land, among others, and was also the begining to him becoming a great producer. The constant traveling allowed him to be based anywhere, so, he settled back in Pittsburgh, where he had also started TME. Using all the experience and resources he gained doing other tasks on the road, he had turned TME into a growing company – specializing in live entertainment. Next, several local partnership involving major concerts in the area, made TME one of the most resourceful entertainment companies in the region throughout the 1990’s. Doing sound however, did not fulfill his need to be creative. He had begun writing songs as a teenager, and in his early 20’s, began to build his personal studio around an elaborate MIDI setup and a Fostex pro 8-track. A chance meeting in 1990 proved he was writing quality material, when it got him signed to write for a platinum-selling artists’ album on Virgin. The project however, was unfortunately shelved. After it was clear that they were not going to move ahead with any more plans, his contract was bought out. Hooking up with some friends at Geffen, he worked on several unique projects, and other opportunities later lead to work on Nissan television commercials, and some experiences in motion pictures with Disney and Universal Films. Enjoying growing success in both live and studio production put tremendous demand on his time and it soon became clear that he would have to decide between the two. Having already been established in major concerts leaned the decision. However, faced with unsuccessful efforts with recording projects, coupled with his then song writing partner taking material and the project name and releasing it as his own, excluding Tony from any credits or royalties – pretty much made it clear that he should go with live entertainment. Concentrated too much in the concert business was almost fatal when starting in 1997, the entire industry began to decrease tours at a pace of 10-15% a year. TME was not able to evolve as the industry continued to shrink. Then in 1999 Tony suffered a series of personal illnesses. Now, physically hampered, in a demanding industry, made it all but certain it was time to change gears. As TME was on the brink of extinction, Tony was working his way back. Fortunately he had his studio assets as his reputation as a great Audio Engineer had always put him in demand mixing in the studio, where he was also able to acquire software. As he began to assemble what had now become quite a substantial collection, he soon realized he had digital capabilities that were on par with major production facilities. By 2001 he was well enough to work steady in a less physically demanding environment. He also would begin to record various types of projects and work as a producer with local talent. However, lack of a permanent location prevented him from going beyond a project studio status. In 2005 things settled in one spot and Tony refocused the company’s direction by dropping nearly a third of…

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After the Fall: Still Here – Keith Kweder Memorial

This special edition of the Pennsylvania Rock Show, features an interview of Doug Carnahan from After the Fall. We discuss their new album “My Confession” that was just released on July 25th, and especially their song “Still Here” which is a memorial to the late, great Keith Kweder. Keith was the drummer for the bands Skell and Dimwit and a huge supporter of the Rock for Life Concert Series. Doug also dishes on starring in Chip DiMonick’s video for their song “You Ain’t Punk” and more! Mike Ekis – “So Keith got him and me tickets to see Boz Scaggs at the Chevy amphitheater, so we tailgate and head inside. We had great seats with no one in front of us, which is a good thing cause we were singing so loud we would have ruined the show for anyone who wanted to hear Boz sing. It was something we always did whether in our basements or at a venue. He is truly missed every day.”

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Hicks From Sweden by Hayride?

Hicks’ Show Notes Hicks discusses his music background, including how he became a country artist in a country that just doesn’t get country music. We chatted a bit about learning foreign languages, his collaborations, how he became part of MTS Management Group. You’ll find out what a tennis racket has to do with his musical history. Yes, I said a tennis racket. You’ll also learn about his band situation since he plays in Europe and the United States. We talk about why he is doing so many radio and podcast interviews (GUESS WHAT! there is more Hicks Music coming soon!) I got him to do some name dropping, names that even I know, a dedicated rock guy. Release Date: July 2015 Running Time: 0:50:06 Guest: Hicks Hicks’ Links: Purchase Hicks’ Music on iTunes Official Website Facebook MTS Management Reverbnation Twitter Youtube Links to things mentioned: Country Showdown Johnny Horton: Sink the Bismarck Garth Brooks/Chris Gaines Terry Lee Spencer: American Dream Resolution 15 Give us some Feedback: Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on iTunes Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on MixCloud E-mail: feedback@buildthescene.com Call Us: 724-568-7018 Join Our Mailing List Submit Your Own Music: Submission Form Book your Band: Booking Form Get our App: iPhone

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Acoustic Performances & Tilted Shadows

Release Date: June 2015 Running Time: 0:58:16 Guest: David Hipchen Where to Find Them: www.davidhipchen.com David Hipchen Show Notes: In the first segment David and Bill discussed the recording of the forthcoming debut EP for David’s band Tilted Shadows. In segment 2, the conversed about KISS, VH, foods, local bands that we’d like to see get back together, reminisced about Bruce and David in AK Music Studios, David picks his all valley band and more. When we moved into segment 3, We pigeon hole genres, discuss Davids band the tilted shadows a bit more, we talk about influences and supporters, we discuss how the internet has changed music, David talks about why the Sidebar is his favorite venue to play in and a little bit about hosting some open stages there as well and he talks about what makes it so good there. He also gives a glowing review for the acoustic shows at the Mariner in Kittaning. We talk about his 1978 Gibson RD Custom guitar. and more. some websites that were mentioned: Heffner and Hefner, Ben Valasek and the Growlers, & Pogo Recording Studio Give us some Feedback: Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on iTunes Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on MixCloud E-mail: feedback@buildthescene.com Call Us: 724-568-7018 Join Our Mailing List Submit Your Own Music: Submission Form Book your Band: Booking Form Get our App: iPhone | Android

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Camp Element: Empty the Seas

Release Date: May 2015 Running Time: 1:21:18 Guest: Camp Element Where to Find Them: www.campelement.com Where to Purchase their Music: Camp Element Store Camp Element Show Notes: Camp Element joined us to discuss their newest release, Empty the Seas. We discuss how the music scene has changed over the years, silent drummers?!?, favorite/first venues, embarrassing moments, their take on the local scene, a few rounds of “Either, Or”, Van Halen history lesson, vinyl recording processes. We also talked about the possibility of Camp Element on vinyl and the DYI recording process. Give us some Feedback: Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on iTunes Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on MixCloud E-mail: feedback@buildthescene.com Call Us: 724-568-7018 Join Our Mailing List Submit Your Own Music: Submission Form Book your Band: Booking Form Get our App: iPhone | Android

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Welcome to the Hellfire Club!

Release Date: April 2015 Running Time: 0:50:11 Guest: The Hellfire Club Where to Find Them: http://hellfiremusic.com/ Where to Purchase their Music: When it become available, it will be free to download from their official website. Show Notes: The Hellfire Club is: Chuck Dobbins – Percussion, John Lane -Vox/Political Satire, Michael McIntyre -Guitar, Dave Moore – Guitar, Jason Ortman – Bass A bit of a teaser here, but their band name has so much innuendo that you may never really know where it came from. The Hellfire Club is a metal band coming out of Ohio’s Rubber City. With ties to Pennsylvania through their lead Singer John Lane, The Hellfire Club spends some time with Bill describing how they came to be. THC also tells us about their upcoming recording sessions and how they plan on allowing free downloads of all their music!  They also mention that they will have cds, t-shirts, and more at their shows. To get an idea of what that might sound like, check out some live videos of the band at http://hellfiremusic.com/videos/ During the interview, we learn that their new bass player played some shows for Green Jelly recently.[fap_playlist id=”26″ layout=”hidden” enqueue=”no” playlist_button=”” auto_enqueue=”no” center=”no”] Visit our Fan Give Aways Page Give us some Feedback: Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on iTunes Subscribe, Review, & Rate us on MixCloud E-mail: feedback@buildthescene.com Call Us: 724-568-7018 Join Our Mailing List Submit Your Own Music: Submission Form Book your Band: Booking Form

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