In the final interview of the 2025 ROCKNPOD series, Allen talks with Christopher Williams, drummer for the bands Accept and Elegant Weapons. They start out discussing their past experiences at ROCKNPOD events, recalling noisy moments and humorous incidents. Christopher shares updates about his wife Ainsley, a solo artist who recently released a new single "The Beast is Coming." Christopher talks about his skills in woodworking and welding, including building custom furniture, cabinetry, and drum...
Jun 15, 2025•11 min
Bob Chiapardi discusses his role in marketing within the rock and metal music industry through his company, Concrete Marketing, which is known for promoting major bands like Metallica and Armored Saint, and has expanded into publicity, radio, and publishing with Foundations Magazine. Bob shares anecdotes about managing safety at events, including a story about Yngwie Malmsteen causing a fire alarm with pyro effects. Recently, Bob has shifted focus from marketing to producing music documentaries,...
Jun 14, 2025•12 min
May 29, 2025•39 min
Bill kicks off the morning of ROCKNPOD 2025 talking to members of Lost Circus. They recently debuted their new single UNINVITED, which is an Alanis Morissette cover. The video for this single was directed by Calico Cooper.
May 22, 2025•8 min
May 08, 2025•16 min
Don Higgins and his twin brother Ron are music enthusiasts and authors of "The Biggest Big Hair Book of Metal Trivia," a trivia book focused on hard rock and metal music. The book combines multiple-choice trivia questions with stories about their experiences and encounters in the music world, making it accessible even to those unfamiliar with the genre.
May 06, 2025•9 min
May 02, 2025•15 min
We discussed our experiences at the latest Rocknpod, new additions to Dennis' guitar collection, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees for 2025, and our top 5 favorite albums from 1975. We also reminisced about our attendance at the first Rocknpod back in 2017 and Bill showcased a unique piece of KISS artwork made from vinyl records.
May 01, 2025•49 min
Bill talks with Metal Blade Records founder Brian Slagel. The conversation starts with Brian stating that he still loves working in the music industry, emphasizing passion over it feeling like a job. He says that the music itself hasn't changed much, but mentions how the business has evolved from vinyl to cassettes, CDs, and now streaming. Brian has started a podcast discussing heavy metal history and current trends, featuring notable guests from the metal community. Metal Blade Records continue...
Apr 29, 2025•9 min
Apr 24, 2025•16 min
Bill interviews Chris O'Brien from Blackwood, a Nashville band. The discussion begins with an observation about the resurgence of physical media like CDs and vinyl, with vinyl sales recently surpassing CDs. Chris mentions the challenges of producing vinyl due to high costs for small batches. They emphasize the importance of artists pushing quality content and supplementing income through merchandise. Blackwood recently released a new single "One Track Mind" featuring Kameron Jane, marking their ...
Apr 22, 2025•9 min
Martin Motnik and Bill start the conversation with a discussion about Accept's recent break after a busy year. The band will be celebrating their 50th anniversary with plans for an anniversary album featuring guest musicians. They also talk about upcoming shows in May, including performances in Japan and opening for Judas Priest in Europe. Martin reflects on the surreal experience of performing with idols and the ups and downs of touring. He also talks about the adrenaline rush of performing liv...
Apr 18, 2025•14 min
Allen interviews Keith Roth from SiriusXM's Hair Nation. Keith is a fan of KISS and they have a brief discussion about the KISS albums 'Asylum', 'Animalize', 'Lick It Up', and 'The Elder'. They talk about their personal experiences with music, Keith's role in the bands The Dictators, Frankenstein 3000, and his solo record 'The Law of Diminished Returns', and a tribute to Curtis Mayfield. The conversation includes thoughts about KISS' farewell tours and the significance of their unmasked era. Kei...
Apr 17, 2025•9 min
Bill talks with Roy Cathey, from the band The Fifth. The conversation starts with Bill praising Roy's performance at the Rare Hare show from the night before. Roy shares his excitement about performing with admired musicians like Billy Sheehan and Brian Forsyth, emphasizing his fan perspective. Roy discusses the challenges and organization behind events like the Rare Hare Show, crediting Tyson Leslie for his efforts in coordinating the lineup. He reveals that his band, The Fifth, has a new CD re...
Apr 16, 2025•10 min
This interview with Billy Sheehan is a joint venture between A2Z Radio's Bill "LilWilly" Elam and the Ages of Rock Podcast's Bill Algee. The discussion begins with quick thoughts about the significance and the evolution of their first names. Billy Sheehan shares his inspiration for playing bass, influenced by a neighbor and the Beatles' Ed Sullivan performance. He recounts his first bass and its importance in his career. Sheehan discusses his experience singing and performing, including a recent...
Apr 15, 2025•18 min
Accept and Elegant Weapons drummer Christopher Williams guest hosted this conversation with his wife, the beautiful and talented musician Ainsley. The discussion began with their comments about Rocknpod, highlighting the vibrant community of rock music lovers and podcasters and emphasized the importance of supporting independent artists and building relationships within the music community and the small-town vibe in Nashville despite its growth. Ainsley introduced her all-natural product line, R...
Apr 14, 2025•19 min
Craig Wright joined us again and we ranked the new songs on the Kiss compilation albums "Alive 2 - Side 4", "Killers", "Smashes, Thrashes, and Hits", and the "Detroit Rock City" soundtrack. We also briefly touched on the "Gene Simmons Roadie for a Day" offer and the upcoming "50th Anniversary Plans" for KISS in Las Vegas. Dennis also showed off his new Cheap Trick Vinyl Boxset.
Mar 27, 2025•1 hr
Craig Wright returns to the show this week as we rank the rest of the studio albums in the KISS Katalog. This is another fun conversation filled with laughter and light hearted jabs at each others rankings.
Feb 20, 2025•1 hr 25 min
We're back for our first episode of 2025. Allen's long time friend Craig Wright joins us to rank the first ten KISS studio album. There are lots of gasps and laughter as we each work our way from number ten to number one on each of our lists. Once we finished, we each revealed our least and most favorite tracks from each album.
Feb 06, 2025•1 hr 25 min
In this episode, we discuss our thoughts on the HBO Max documentary "Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary" and the music genre in general. Allen gave Dennis and Bill an assignment for this episode and then almost forgot to have them give their answers. Lots of fun and laughter in this episode. (Visit AgesOfRock.com and look for episode 388 for the links Allen mention in this week's show.)
Dec 12, 2024•49 min
How do you take more than 2,000 albums from the 90s and narrow it down to 501? You get some friends together and have interesting discussions. In this episode, author Gary Graff talks about the book "501 Essential Albums of the '90s: The Music Fan's Definitive Guide" and how he and his friends came up with the albums that made cut. We also talk with Gary about how the music industry shifted in the 90s. If you listen and don't agree, GET OFF OUR LAWN!
Nov 28, 2024•46 min
This week we talk about some recent concerts we've seen and some we have coming up, complain about Netflix and Mike Tyson, and talk about our favorite former KISS member... VINNIE VINCENT.
Nov 21, 2024•40 min
Bill and Allen have a great conversation with vocalist and lead guitarist of “Riding with Killers” member Taylor Roberts about the current album “Full Circle.” Taylor also tells us the story behind the latest single “Don’t Fade Away.” We also learn that sometimes a massage isn’t just a massage!
Oct 31, 2024•40 min
In this episode Brian Forsythe (Kix/Rhino Bucket) joins us as we talk about the recent documentary "Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of '80s Hair Metal" which can be found streaming on Paramount Plus.
Oct 24, 2024•58 min
In this episode we talk a little about a couple classic bands breaking up, Arnel Pineda's response to getting roasted for a bad night during a Journey concert, Dave Grohl's recent revelation, and we each make up our own "Best of" album from the songs that make up the 1978 KISS Solo albums.
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Author Paul Wyld joins us in this episode to talk about his book "Jim Morrison Secret - Teacher of the Occult - A Journey to the Other Side" which was released on September 10th in the US. He talks about the inspiration for the book, what it was like finding a publisher, and more.
Sep 19, 2024•28 min
Daryl Bughman, musician and rock & roll photographer, joins us to share his new book "8 Years 27 Concerts: 2015-2023 Foreigner Live." He has worked with Jeff Beck, Joe Bonamassa, and Dirty Honey.
Aug 29, 2024•47 min
In this episode, Allen flies solo and has a chat with Martin Popoff about the book VAN HALEN AT 50. They also touch on "the brown sound" along with Wolfgang and the VH legacy, Alex retiring from music, and more.
Jul 25, 2024•18 min
This episode is a trifecta of topics. In the first segment, we discuss our top three KISS albums based on a Facebook post from KISSopolis. Part two leads us to Allen discussing the musical lineup for his upcoming Monsters of Rock cruise. The final topic is a discussion of our ultimate concert tour lineup based on a Loudwire post. In amongst those topics, we do our usual nonsensical topic straying.
Jul 11, 2024•40 min
It's been a while but the guys are back together and catching up on album acquisitions, concerts, and other shenanigans while they were on hiatus.
Jun 27, 2024•37 min
