INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS is devoted to promoting musicians worldwide. We spotlight exclusive in-depth interviews with both legendary and up and coming music artists and celebrities. We also feature the movers and shakers of the music and publishing industries.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE ROCK STARS GONE?
Rock and Roll, the Blues, and Jazz are America’s contribution to the arts, so why are we not fighting to preserve our own musical legacy and culture?
With roots from the early blues pioneers, the longevity of rock and roll is second to none. But strangely enough, those legendary rock heroes that we were so accustomed to hearing every time we turned our radios on, had mysteriously vanished from the mainstream. The music of the 1960s, 70s, and even the 80s was an important juncture in all of our lives. So many of us timeline life’s precious moments with the music we remember, when the music was so great, when the music mattered. The baby boomer generation is financially imperative to many, yet many of its entertainment standards have been renounced.
One day, the plug was pulled on those legendary music artists. Hackers began stealing music across the internet. Online music stores popularized cheap digital singles and neglected to promote full-length albums. Radio stations changed formats to accommodate talk show radio jocks, while rappers and electronic dance music menaced the airwaves. Notorious record companies began folding in droves. Record companies and radio stations that were once owned and operated by visionaries, were now run by accountants and lawyers, and the music world began promoting untalented wannabes. The economy plummeted, and radio stations became more concerned about how many consecutive commercials they could run instead of providing quality radio programming and entertainment value. Radio stations became corporate machines leaving no room for innovation. Throughout the 2000s, recording studios and live performances began using an audio processor called “Auto-Tune” to disguise off-key inaccuracies in vocal tracks. The device allowed virtually anyone without music skills to become a singer and new waves of mainstream radio stars were instantly fabricated. The business of music became stronger and more important than the art of music.
For more than a decade, I’ve been on a rock and roll pilgrimage to help promote and save the greatest music the world has ever known. Before the internet and Napster, virtuoso musicians traditionally introduced their music by way of mainstream radio stations while anxious music enthusiasts hurried to their favorite record stores and purchased a copy of the artist’s latest release. Talk radio wasn’t popular because there was way too much great music to play over the airwaves. Advertisers didn’t rule the airwaves, the music did. Rock legends toured the world to promote their latest albums and prices of concert tickets were extremely affordable. Proficient musicians, singers, and songwriters are what made the music so great.
Cam Clarke the Original Voice of Ninja Turtle Leonardo & Rocksteady!
Tuesday, December 3, 2024 • Duration 01:04:01
CAM CLARKE ORIGINAL VOICE OF LEONARDO AND ROCKSTEADY FROM TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES RELEASING COFFEE TABLE BOOK ‘NOW THEY’RE ALL HERE’ THE KING FAMILY ‘ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF ENTERTAINMENT’ FEATURING AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHS EXCLUSIVE!
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends I’m your host Ray Shasho.
Cam Clarke began his career in short pants and knee socks in 1965 as a member of TV’s “The King Family Show”. His mother is Alyce King of The King Sisters. His father is actor Robert Clarke, who starred in many of the science fiction films of the 1950s and ’60s. Since the early eighties, Cam has been working in voice-overs, particularly in animation, Voicing such characters as Leonardo in the original “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. Cam has voiced many other characters as well including Der Fledermaus in “The Tick”, Mac on “Clifford the Big Red Dog”, He-Man in “He-Man: Masters of the Universe”, and Freddy the Ferret in “Back at the Barnyard”. He has also been the voice of Snoopy, Simba, and can currently be heard as Heath, Hoodude, and Professor Rotter in “Monster High”. He has supplied voices for numerous video games, most notably Kratos in “Tales of Symphonia”, Blood Elf in “World Of Warcraft”, and the voice of Liquid Snake for the popular “Metal Gear Solid” series wherein the sequel his character came back as an arm. Proving the old adage, “There are no small parts, just small, …um, …body parts.”
PLEASE WELCOME American voice actor, known for his work in animation, video games and commercials. Among his notable roles are Leonardo and Rocksteady in the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series Cam Clarke to Interviewing the Legends …
PURCHASE
‘NOW THEY’RE ALL HERE’
THE KING FAMILY
OVER 100 YEARS OF ENTERTAINMENT
FROM AMERICA’S FIRST FAMILY OF SONG
BY CAM CLARKE
Now They’re All here – Over 100 years Of Entertainment From America’s First Family of Song”. It’s a coffee table book with amazing photographs (some I hadn’t even seen!) and memories from the King Sisters, Alvino Rey, Buddy Cole, Tina Cole, Robert Clarke and many other members of the King Family.
Joe Deninzon 'Kansas' Violinist Releases New Album w/'Stratospheerius'
Monday, November 25, 2024 • Duration 01:09:36
KANSAS MEMBER AND PROLIFIC VIOLINIST RELEASES NEW ALBUM WITH STRATOSPHEERIUS ENTITLED ‘IMPOSTOR!’
SPECIAL EVENT WITH JOE DENINZON & JASON GIANNI ON INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends I’m your host Ray Shasho.
Joe Deninzon has been hailed by critics as “The Jimi Hendrix of the Violin,” because of his innovative style on the “Viper” seven-string electric violin. Most recently, he became electric violinist/backup vocalist/rhythm guitarist for the legendary rock band, Kansas. Joe is also the lead singer and violinist for the progressive rock band, Stratospheerius, which has just released their 6th album, “Impostor! He can be heard on over a hundred albums and jingles as a violinist and string arranger. The band’s recently released album "Impostor! features an impressive array of guest musicians from the prog rock world, such as Michael Sadler (Saga), Randy McStine (Porcupine Tree), Fernando Perdomo (Jacob Dylan), Chloe Lowery (Trans-Siberian Orchestra), Val Vigoda (Groovelilly), and multi-instrumentalist Rachel Flowers. Produced by Joe Deninzon and mixed and mastered by Rich Mouser (Neal Morse, Dream Theater, Tears for Fears), "Impostor!" promises to be a standout release.
PLEASE WELCOME ELECTRIC/ACOUSTIC VIOLINIST/GUITARIST/COMPOSER/SINGER/MANDOLINIST JOE DENINZON
AND DRUMMER JASON GIANNI TO INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS.
PURCHASE THE NEW ALBUM
BY
JOE DENINZON
AND
STRATOSPHEERIUS
Entitled
IMPOSTOR!
“Impostor!” The new album from Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius is available now on bandcamp & all streaming platforms.
Jon Anderson 'YES' Legend Talks New Album with The Band Geeks!
Wednesday, August 28, 2024 • Duration 30:11
JON ANDERSON AND THE BAND GEEKS RELEASE NEW ALBUM ENTITLED ‘TRUE’
AND TOURING “YES EPICS, CLASSICS, AND MORE”
ZOOM SPECIAL EVENT WITH ‘YES’ LEGENDARY SINGER JON ANDERSON!
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends I’m your host Ray Shasho
After months of anticipation, the debut album from Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks, “TRUE”, has been released. The nine-song album, produced by Jon and Richie Castellano, is the album YES fans worldwide have been waiting for since Jon’s departure from the band in 2008. The album’s centerpieces are two epic tracks, the 16 and a half minute “Once Upon a Dream” and the nearly 10 minute “Counties and Countries”. To celebrate the release, a video for “Counties and Countries” recently premiered.
The video was created by Jon’s long-time videographer Michael Byrne.
PLEASE WELCOME LEGENDARY SINGER… SONGWRITER... MUSICIAN… MOST RECOGNIZED AS THE VOICE OF ‘YES’ JON ANDERSON TO INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS …
"TRUE the new album by Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks exceeds expectations.
'Automatic Man' Legend Todd Cochran Releases Brilliant New Soundscapes!
Sunday, June 18, 2023 • Duration 01:47:18
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends I’m your host Ray Shasho.
Automatic Man Legend Todd Cochran Releases “From The Vault: Notes For The Future”
Todd Cochran is an American pianist, composer, keyboardist, electronic musician, and conceptual artist. Early in his career he was also professionally known as Bayeté. Cochran started his career as a teenager with saxophonist John Handy. Two years later he joined vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson’s Quartet and made his jazz recording debut composing and performing on a benchmark album for Hutcherson, “Head On” (Blue Note Records). Cochran’s first solo project “Worlds Around the Sun” became a #1 jazz album. From the mid-1970s forward Todd has experimented with and incorporated synthesizers, electronic and mixed-media concepts in his creative projects while collaborating with a wide range of artists in the genres of jazz, art rock, pop, R&B, and twenty-first-century classical.
Todd released two albums on Prestige Records in 1972 and 1973. He was keyboardist, principal composer, and lead singer of Automatic Man from 1976–1978 which also featured drummer Michael Shrieve (shreeve) and guitarist Pat Thrall. He was also a member of Fuse One, a coalition of jazz musicians who released two albums on CTI Records in 1980 and 1981. The shortlist of his collaborations includes Peter Gabriel, Joan Armatrading, Maya Angelou and Stewart Copeland.
PLEASE WELCOME PROFICIENT PIANIST/MULTI-INSTRIMENTALIST/BANDLEADER/COMPOSER/PRODUCER WHO WAS ALSO KEYBOARDIST AND LEAD VOCALIST FOR SAN FRANSICO PROGRESSIVE ROCK GROUP AUTOMATIC MAN AND THE JAZZ GROUP FUSE ONE …TODD COCHRAN TO INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS
PURCHASE
THE NEW ALBUM
BY
TODD COCHRAN
entitled
From The Vault: Notes For The Future
Paul Roberts Frontman for Sniff 'N' The Tears ("Drivers Seat") Exclusive Interview!
Wednesday, June 14, 2023 • Duration 01:03:34
PAUL ROBERTS LEAD SINGER/SONGWRITER/MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST
WITH UK ROCK GROUP SNIFF ‘N’ THE TEARS
ZOOM TV SPECIAL EVENT ON INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends I’m your host Ray Shasho.
Sniff 'n' the Tears formed in 1978 and after releasing their first album Fickle Heart, had a worldwide hit with Driver’s Seat, which reached 15 on the billboard chart in the USA in 1979. The band toured extensively following the success of Driver’s Seat, including a two-and-a-half-month tour of the States, and performed and recorded together until 1982.
In the early nineties Driver’s Seat reached number one in Holland after being used in a car ad campaign which introduced it to a new generation and led to the band reforming for a European tour and to make another album. Hollywood films such as Boogie Nights and Anchor Man 2 as well as the series The Walking Dead have kept Driver’s Seat in the public eye, and it has become a perennial favorite loved by successive generations.
Although the band members have all been engaged with other projects in the intervening years, they have stayed in touch and continued to work together. Random Elements is the latest album with the full band.
In 2018, Paul Roberts and Les Davidson started performing together as an acoustic duo. The acoustic project marks a long-awaited return to live performance, and a new creative approach to Sniff ‘n’ the Tears songs old and new.
PLEASE WELCOME LEAD VOCALIST/MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST AND FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ROCK BAND SNIFF ‘N’ THE TEARS PAUL ROBERTS
TO INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS.
PURCHASE
J U M P
By
Simon Bergseth Frontman for Norwegian Prog Group 'AVKRVST' Exclusive Interview!
Saturday, June 10, 2023 • Duration 38:29
NORWEGIAN PROG ROCKERS AVKRVST ANNOUNCE THE RELEASE OF THEIR DEBUT ALBUM THE ‘APPROBATION’
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH LEAD SINGER SIMON BERGSETH!
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends I’m your host Ray Shasho.
Norwegian progressive rock group AVKRVST have announced they will release their album ‘The Approbation’ on 16th June, 2023.
The Approbation is a concept album about a bleak soul who is left solely with his thoughts, isolated in a cabin deep into the dark forests, far away from civilization. The 49-minute-long concept album contains 7 songs, which take the listener though the thoughts of a man struggling towards the acceptance of death, being hauled into the abyss.
The whole album is written and recorded at a cabin in Alvdal (Norway) during a rainy, cold fall and winter. Throughout the album, the sounds of rain and train horns from afar can be heard, which are actual sounds recorded outside the cabin at night under the stars.
Sonically, The Approbation is a massive sounding piece of music. It’s everything from lush, melancholy moods to heavy, more aggressive atmospheres. It tries to capture the feeling of a cold, gloomy fall - a dark sky, filled with gazing stars above the mist.
PLEASE WELCOME SINGER/SONGWRITER/MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST FOR NORWAY’S PROGRESSIVE ROCK GROUP AVKRVST SIMON BERGSETH TO INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS …
Joe Deninzon Talks About Becoming The Newest Member of K A N S A S!
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 • Duration 22:13
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends I’m your host Ray Shasho.
This is part 2 of our chat with Joe Deninzon.
Our first conversation with Joe was on May 16th.
We quickly learned during that interview Joe had already joined the legendary Classic Rock Group Kansas as their new violinist replacing David Ragsdale.
Joe was not allowed to say anything about joining the band at that time during the interview.
So we added a Part 2 with Joe Deninzon to chat solely about becoming a member of KANSAS.
For more information about KANSAS and their tour schedule go to www.kansasband.com
K A N S A S
50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR
ANOTHER FORK IN THE ROAD DATES
Jun 2 Benedum Center Pittsburgh, PA
Jun 3 The Lyric Baltimore, MD
Jun 9 Keswick Theatre Glenside, PA
Jun 10 Keswick Theatre Glenside, PA
Jun 16 Embassy Theatre Fort Wayne, IN
Jun 29 Massey Hall Toronto, ON
Jul 1 Kodak Center
Jul 7 Taft Theatre Cincinnati, OH
Jul 8 Clowes Memorial Hall Indianapolis, IN
Jul 15 Chicago Theatre Chicago, IL
Jul 21 Grand Theater Wausau, WI
Mark Vickness Interconnected an Ensemble of Virtuoso Players & Grammy Winners!
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 • Duration 01:00:14
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends I’m your host Ray Shasho.
Mark Vickness began his musical training on piano at age six. The road from there to the composer/modern fingerstyle guitarist he is today included a bachelor’s and master’s degree in composition, studies in classical piano, guitar, sitar and tabla, years as a performing jazz guitarist, composer and arranger, several film scores and three decades of recording and performing as the instrumental half of the acoustic fusion duo, Glass House which has released three CD’s, two EPs and a host of widely viewed YouTube videos. Mark’s performing experience spans a huge range of genres from free improv to West African drum and dance ensembles, from Motown and funk bands to big band jazz and orchestral conducting. Schooled in composition by Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Mel Powell, Mark has recorded and performed with world renowned musicians including two-time Grammy winners, The Turtle Island String Quartet, legendary bassist, Michael Manring, and guitarists Alex DiGrassi and Don Ross. Following the release of “Places” in 2017 and “Interconnected” in 2020, composer/guitarist Mark Vickness announces the release of “In The Rain Shadow” with a newly expanded group, MVI (Mark Vickness Interconnected).
PLEASE WELCOME MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST, COMPOSER AND ARRANGER MARK VICKNESS TO INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS …
PURCHASE
THE NEW ALBUM
BY
MVI
(Mark Vickness Interconnected)
Entitled
IN THE RAIN SHADOW
“In The Rain Shadow” will be available on Spotify, Apple Music and all streaming platforms. CDs will be available at www.cdbaby.com.
Official Release date: May 15, 2023
'The Fabulous Courettes' are Setting the World on Fire!
Friday, May 26, 2023 • Duration 57:32
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends I’m your host Ray Shasho.
BIO: THE COURETTES are an explosive rock duo from Denmark and Brazil who found the perfect blend between garage rock, 60s Girl Group, Wall of Sound, surf music and doo wop. Like The Ronettes meet The Ramones at a wild party at Gold Star Studios echo chamber. Praised by the biggest music magazines around the world, in 2020 the band signed with legendary British label Damaged Goods, putting them on the same roster as top international rock icons. Their last and third album, “Back in Mono” was released in the Fall 2021 and is a truly milestone in their career. The album brings the band in top form, showing great songwriting skills and with broader nuances, influences and sound qualities to their garage rock recipe. Their last singles, “Want You! Like a Cigarette”, “Hop The Twig” and “R.I.N.G.O.” all got airplay at BBC 6 Radio in England and radio stations in Europe and the USA. “Back in Mono” got top reviews in the main music magazines like Mojo, Classic Rock and Shindig and was featured in countless Best Albums of 2021 lists:
PLEASE WELCOME Flavia Couri and Martin Couri of one of the most hard-working bands on the European rock’n’roll scene, and with a reputation of delivering full-speed energetic performances … THE CORETTES…
PURCHASE
BOOM! DYNAMITE
BY
THE COURETTES
Format: Vinyl
A compilation album released to coincide with the band's first US tour - on orange vinyl exclusively for the US! Described as The Ronettes meet The Ramones at a wild party at Gold Star Studios echo chamber, The Courettes have released four fantastic albums on the legendary label Damaged Goods Records, each one praised by magazines such as MOJO and Shindig!, most notably the Back In Mono album in 2021, a true milestone in their career. This new compilation, Boom! Dynamite, released exclusively for the US market, guides you through their albums from the very beginning, from the early raw power garage rock onto their present Spector/Levine Wall of Sound Gold Star sound, made using complex recording techniques at StarrSound Studios in Denmark with top producer Søren Christensen and mixing genius Seiki Sato from Japan.
JOE DENINZON & STRATOSPHEERIUS RELEASE EXCITING NEW LIVE BOX SET
Monday, May 22, 2023 • Duration 01:04:17
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends I’m your host Ray Shasho.
Joe Deninzon has been hailed by critics as “The Jimi Hendrix of the Violin,” because of his innovative style on seven-string electric violin. Joe has worked with The Who, 50 Cent, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, Phoebe Snow, Everclear, Ritchie Blackmore, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Les Paul and many more great artists.
Joe is the lead singer and electric violinist for the progressive rock band, Stratospheerius, which has released five critically acclaimed CD’s.
Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius are releasing their new live box set, “Behind the Curtain (Live at ProgStock)” on May 19th on Melodic Revolution Records. The collection on two CDs and DVD/Blu-rays show this treasured electric violinist/singer-songwriter’s history of favorites in the past decade and a half in the rock scene.
“(Live at ProgStock)” features eclectic covers. King Crimson’s “Frame by Frame” a Queen-esque approach to muse’s “Hysteria,” and an unrehearsed cover of Chick Corea’s “Spain” with blind piano and flute virtuoso Rachel Flowers and Alex Skolnick. “One Foot in the Next World,” is the brand-new music video; and you can watch it on YouTube.
PLEASE WELCOME THE JIMI HENDRIX OF THE ELECTRIC VIOLINIST/LEAD VOCALIST/MANDOLINIST/GUITARIST AND COMPOSER FOR PROGRESSIVE ROCK BAND STRATOSPHEERIUS JOE DENINZON TO INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS …
Led by the remarkable Kansas violinist/guitarist Joe Deninzon, who also serves as the frontman and lead singer, Stratospheerius boasts a talented lineup including guitarist Michelangelo Quirinale, keyboardist Bill Hubauer, bassist Paul Ranieri, and drummer Jason Gianni.
Impostor! features an impressive array of guest musicians from the prog rock world, such as Michael Sadler (Saga), Randy McStine, Fernando Perdomo, Chloe Lowery, Val Vigoda, and multi-instrumentalist Rachel Flowers.
Notes for the future are the “imagined sometime in the past” tropes of a storyteller. Freed from every day “isms” of convention and released from the symbolic containment of the vault, the music is an allegorical exploration in futurism. The stream running throughout the musical narrative is a speculative commentary about our human search for meaning, and we’re reminded that as a version of our ancestors’ vision, this quest never ends.
“From The Vault” is structured around a sequence of recurring themes and develops as an unfolding tour of references, hints, and clues. Moving from one perspective to another, we connect with how our planet is perpetually in a state of seeking solutions. Within the soundscape, without words, an underlying language is speaking. Nature evolves for the sum of us, not the few. We are in a continual state of becoming. We are connected. Love is passed along, as is happiness. Nevertheless, expressly for the listener, an implied sense of reasoning encourages us to feel free and let go of all things familiar. And then, “over there” in the distance, we get a passing glimpse of the sacred structure.
The 2020 acoustic album from the veteran British band. A couple of years ago, guitarist Les Davidson suggested to Sniff 'n' the Tears singer/songwriter Paul Roberts that they should get out and do some gigs. Only this time as a duo. The current music scene seems to be increasingly about live performance and all they would need as an acoustic duo would be their guitars; the logistics of putting a band together for anything other than a fair-sized tour being costly. The first two gigs they did were very encouraging as not only did the audience enjoy hearing the songs, they knew but feedback from people afterwards suggested they had gained new insights into the songs. This has opened a whole range of possibilities explored on the album Jump.
AND
RANDOM ELEMENTS
By
Sniff ‘n’ the Tears
The 2017 release. Random Elements is the eighth album from Sniff 'n' The Tears. After an accident in 2012, and several months' recovery, Paul Roberts got into a songwriting spree. This was partly due to keyboardist Robin Langridge, sending inspirational sonic sketches to him. Thus started a collaborative process which led to some rather interesting song structures. In Paul's words: "Some of these new songs reflect the times, in terms of the dilemmas we face in the 21st century. Some are more personal but then, the personal and the political can be connected. " Themes Sniff fans are all too familiar with, "but", he explains, with a shrug of acceptance, "humanity is what it is, and it won't stop any time soon.
Mads Tolling, violin; Matt Renzi, oboe/English horn/sax; Joseph Hebert, cello; Dan Feiszli, bass; Ty Burhoe, tabla; MB Gordy, percussion; Mark Vickness, guitar.
Says Mark, “This is my dream ensemble. Each musician is an accomplished soloist adept at many different types of music. They all bring an astounding breadth and depth of musical understanding and experience. There is almost no style of music we cannot draw from. From a classical trio to a jazz quartet, from funk to raga style improvisation, from interwoven counterpoint to rock power chords, from a fast Irish 12/8 romp to an ambient textural tapestry and more – these virtuoso players bring an infectious energy that is palpable on every track.”
Black Vinyl LP Brand new studio album from your favorite Brazilian/Danish garage rock duo! It's a milestone in their career so far. You can look forward to some "spit ´n´snarl garage rumble-meets-Phil Spector pop" showcasing the band in top form - great songwriting skills, Spector-esque arrangements, with broader nuances, influences and production qualities added to their garage rock recipe.
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