Episode Description: It's almost Valentine's Day, so Sonny and Steven are busting out the ballads in this episode picking out some great rock n roll from Warrant, Richie Kotzen, Halestorm, Steelheart, Velvet Revolver, The Struts, and more. What's The Story? Sonny pulls out his contract forcing Steven to commit to an episode of busting out the ballads. Do not fear because the boys have picked out some great ballads that will have even the most committed rocker throwing up his lighter, or in today...
Feb 10, 2019•1 hr 24 min
We have done a lot of interviews at this stage of the podcast. As far as I can remember, nothing matches the fun Sonny and I had with Lord Tracy's frontman Terry Glaze on a Friday night sitting around the computer. Terry is a charismatic and funny dude that we loved hanging out with on Skype. We happen to love his music and we think you'll enjoy this episode. The term “desert island album” comes up often when folks who love music are conversing. If music is your main hobby or passion you probabl...
Feb 03, 2019•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 84
Monsters Of Rock Cruise Preview, part 2 of 4 Steven and Hollywood are going cruising. The Growin' Up Rock Podcast in 2019 will take it's show on the road and jump on the Monsters Of Rock Cruise. In Part 2 of this 4 part series of episodes we will showcase killer artist like Skid Row, Tora Tora, Kix, XYZ, Vixen and all the others that are performing on the cruise. We also enlisted our fellow Podcaster and Co-Host of the CGCM Podcast Rich 'The Meister" Dillon to educate us on the cruise. Rich will...
Jan 27, 2019•2 hr 38 min
In this episode we are livin' the life with Miljenko Matijevic of Steelheart. We catch up with Steelheart's main man Miljenko to talk about his career, the new live album, and what Steelheart fans can expect in 2019. In 1990 when Steelheart finally got their shot to hit the rock scene, the band embodied everything you would want from a band in that era. They had the look, catchy songs, emotional ballads, screeching guitars, energetic live shows, and a singer named Miljenko Matijevic with a multi...
Jan 20, 2019•1 hr 15 min
The end of the year is here and it's time to share our best of 2018 list. Hopefully you checked out part 1 of our list and now we move on to part 2 which get's into our top 5 best of 2018. Steven and Hollywood get into the mainstream and not so mainstream for their picks. Our "Best Of" may not be your "Best Of", but even though we may not always agree, we are positive if you are a fan of hard and heavy rock music, you will find something in this show you enjoy. 2018 proved one thing, rock is far...
Jan 13, 2019•1 hr 43 min
The end of the year is here and it's time to share our best of 2018 list. There was so much to share we broke it up into two parts with this being the first of two. Steven and Hollywood get into the mainstream and not so mainstream for their picks. Our "Best Of" may not be your "Best Of", but even though we may not always agree, we are positive if you are a fan of hard and heavy rock music, you will find something in this show you enjoy. 2018 proved one thing, rock is far from being dead. The ye...
Jan 07, 2019•1 hr 47 min
In this episode it's all about the countless number of rock bands under the influence of the mighty Van Halen. In The 80s there was no rock band bigger than the mighty Van Halen. The guitar playing of Eddie Van Halen and the ringmaster antics of David Lee Roth had a lasting effect on every rock band coming up in the 80s and beyond. Given the impression Van Halen made on so many bands we loved back in the 80s and still love today, we thought it fitting to discuss a few different hard rock bands a...
Dec 30, 2018•1 hr 41 min
Marc Ferrari is a RnR business animal. Known for being the lead guitar player in Keel and Cold Sweat, Marc has played to thousands of Rock n Roll animals around the world. Marc has done the whole Rockstar thing, but that is just a small stop in his musical journey through life. Some of Marc's career highlights include, writing songs for the 96 Summer Olympic Games, writing and releasing 2 solo records, playing guitar for Crucial Taunt, a fictional band in a couple of the most iconic movies from ...
Dec 23, 2018•1 hr 1 min
If you don’t know it by now, Sonny “Hollywood” Pooni has issues (we are kidding, well...kind of). One of them is when he gets an idea in his head, he can’t let it go. So, let us introduce a solo episode from Hollywood himself called, Wild Hair Vol 1. The idea is to reminiscence a bit, share some stories of yesteryear, play some killer music and basically be your DJ for the next hour. Our picks today will include: Prince, Stryper, Jeff Scott Soto, Halestorm, Extreme and more. Enjoy! Everyone’s go...
Dec 16, 2018•55 min
What the Funk is going on around the Growin' Up Rock Podcast? In this episode of the podcast, Steven and Sonny get funky while keeping that guitar cranked to 11. They explore a funk rock explosion that seemed to happen at the tail end of the 80s and into the early 90s. Discovering and discussing music by Infectious Grooves, King Of The Hill, Skin, Maggie's Dream, Extreme, Trapeze, Lenny Kravitz, TM Stevens, White Trash, and of course Kiss. There is nothing better than a heavy guitar riff mixed w...
Dec 09, 2018•1 hr 44 min
Monsters Of Rock Cruise Preview, part 1 of 4 Steven and Hollywood are going cruising. The Growin' Up Rock Podcast in 2019 will take it's show on the road and jump on the Monsters Of Rock Cruise. In the first 3 parts of this 4 part series of episodes we will showcase killer artist like Tesla, Pink Cream 69, Saxon, Black n Blue, Queensryche, Killer Dwarfs and all the others that are performing on the cruise. In part 4, we will conclude our coverage in March with a finale that will recap the entire...
Dec 02, 2018•1 hr 52 min
It’s a Rock n Roll Trivia Game show of epic proportions where we ask the question Who Are You? We invite our special guest Steve Wright from the Podder The Hell Podcast to come and test his trivial hard rock knowledge against the absent minded Steven Michael who thinks the answer to everything is Van Halen. While we try and figure out who has the most points, we play some killer music by the likes of Lita Ford, Queensryche, Sammy Hagar, Iron Maiden, WASP, Night Ranger, Kiss, Striker, and Blood O...
Nov 25, 2018•1 hr 47 min
Matt Jaffe is a singer-songwriter from San Francisco. Relatively unknown in the rest of the United States, this California rocker cut his teeth on open mics around the Bay Area. Matt started pursuing music more seriously when Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads) offered to produce his first record. From his earliest memories of growing up playing classic violin at 5 years old, to playing ANY gig that he was offered regardless of venue size, Matt shares stories about his young career. And he describes ...
Nov 23, 2018•56 min
When we were young, we learned a lot about life and rock n roll. This week we catch up with an old friend Dan Call from national recording artists The Villains. We talk about our early days of rock and roll in Atlanta in the late 80's, when we first met, and some of the many great musicians that came out of Atlanta while we were playing out. We get into Dan's thirty-plus years in the music business as a musician, songwriter, and singer. Dan's hit the charts with his band The Villains, and writte...
Nov 18, 2018•1 hr 42 min
Monte Pittman for “Better or Worse,” is living “Between The Spaces,” of music by releasing two albums at the same time. The longtime Madonna guitarist and former Prong guitar player has ties to the Pop world, but remains very much rooted in Hard Rock and Metal. Steve Michael caught up with Monte when he rolled through town opening up for former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach. Monte was on the tour trail promoting his two, that’s right I said two, album releases which hit the market on the same d...
Nov 16, 2018•48 min
On this episode of Growin' Up Rock, we interview ex-Dio and current DC4 guitarist Rowan Robertson. Rowan Robertson was seventeen when he was chosen by Ronnie James Dio to replace friend of the show Craig Goldy to be part of a new band line up for the recording of "Lock Up The Wolves." We talk to Rowan about his time with Dio, and the unlikely pairing of him and Billy Ray Cyrus. We discuss the Vegas show Raiding the Rock Vault, which he performs in nightly, and his newest project, DC4 with the Du...
Nov 11, 2018•55 min
In this Growin' Up Rock episode, we give our review of the new Queen movie “Bohemian Rhapsody.” We enlist the help of fellow podcaster, Queen fan, and host of the Damn Good Movie Memories podcast, Brian Davis to come along for the ride as we doubledown to make it a Top 5 Queen songs episode too. When you talk about influential classic rock bands of the 70's and 80's, you would be hard pressed not to mention one of the greatest of all time, Queen. A completely ground-breaking rock band, they had ...
Nov 04, 2018•2 hr 26 min
Tonight we crank it up and ask the question, have you ever heard of these guys? We crank up the volume to music from Lynam, Million Dollar Reload, Gary Schutt, Firewind, and Zan Clan. The Crank It Up Spotlight, is a regular segment we cover in almost every episode, but tonight we are dedicating the entire episode, because we want to share some hard rock and metal bands you most likely are not that familiar with, and if you are, you rock, that’s awesome!! In an added bonus, I attended an LA Guns ...
Oct 28, 2018•1 hr 38 min
The Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame invokes a lot of discussion among the hard rock and metal community. Should we have our own Hard Rock and Metal Hall Of Fame, and if so, who's in and who's out? Since its existence, the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame has come with it’s share of controversy, whether people are arguing about who’s in and who’s out, or bands arguing about who is coming and who is performing together. We believe in rock n roll and music in general, but we have thoughts about the current state ...
Oct 21, 2018•1 hr 43 min
We love Kix, so we pick our Top 5 Kix tunes to share. We also love Kix Lead Singer Steve Whiteman and when we had the opportunity to catch up with Steve to discuss the 30th anniversary of the Kix classic album Blow My Fuse we jumped on it. Kix are for kids, but Kix Rock n Roll is for everyone whose ever cranked up the car stereo to 11 and rolled down the windows while rolling down the highway on a sunny day. It was tough to pick our top 5 Kix tunes, but like all other top 5 episodes we ever deci...
Oct 14, 2018•1 hr 35 min
It’s a thin line between love and hate, and nowhere is it more apparent than in rock n roll, so we got to stop the hate and start the love. This week we get back to basics and have fun with a themed episode that is loaded with some great music by Firehouse, Halford, Tyketto, Megadeth, House Of Lords, WASP, Saraya, and of course Kiss. The theme this week is all about song titles with Love or Hate in the title and in some cases both Love and Hate. We get into the Ticketmaster and Live Nation contr...
Oct 07, 2018•1 hr 26 min
Craig Goldy has a very interesting rock n roll story to tell. The former Dio guitar player took time out from his new band Dream Child to discuss his friendship with Ronnie James Dio, his earlier work with Guiffria, and Rough Cutt, and the emotions he feels while paying tribute to Ronnie James Dio performing with the Dio Disciples. From his earliest memories of growing up in a not so ideal home environment, to living out of his car on the streets, Craig shares stories about his auditions for Rou...
Sep 30, 2018•1 hr 58 min
This week Sonny and I scream “SHAKE ME” at the top of our lungs all night as we both pick our Top 5 Cinderella songs. We barely avoid an all-out brawl on mic when we both claim a song as our favorite, deciding in the end to let technology pick the true winner of the favorite song sweepstakes. I remember seeing Cinderella in the 90's, long after their “heyday.” With rock considered passe at the time, I was psyched to be able to see a band I dug in a small club at an affordable price. Cinderella b...
Sep 23, 2018•1 hr 29 min
Eclipse is Rock's complete package. Growin' Up Rock was lucky enough to catch up with the Swedish band in Atlanta to learn what's brought them here and what's in store for the future. Eclipse has released three albums that I absolutely love on Frontiers Records: Bleed and Scream (2012), Armageddonize (2015), and Monumentum (2017). On a rare trip to the US for an appearance at PowerProg USA, a progressive power metal festival, singer Erik Mårtensson, guitarist Magnus Henriksson, and drummer Phili...
Sep 16, 2018•1 hr 30 min
Nashville Rock N Pod 2 is over , and we are closing out this year's Rock N Pod 2 recap with an epic finale of massive proportions. In this finale you will hear from Tora Tora, Keel, Tesla, Kik Tracee, Bang Tang, and a host of other great interviews. Growin' Up Rock loves to have fun and we do exactly that with our guest as we dig into what music they grew up on that meant so much to them driving them to become the people they are today. Growin' Up Rock had an amazing amount of fun this year hang...
Sep 09, 2018•2 hr 37 min
Nashville Rock N Pod 2 is over , but the recap for Growin' Up Rock is just starting. The Growin’ Up Rock Podcast was in attendance for this year’s Rock N Pod Expo and we have a virtual treasure trove of interviews with musicians, comedians, fellow podcasters and yes, music content, to share with you. This is Part 1 of a 2 part Rock N Pod recap. Hollywood and I will share our overall experience of the entire weekend. We have lots of laughs and mix in some great music with the stories and memories...
Sep 07, 2018•1 hr 36 min
Nashville Rock N Pod 2 is over and the future, past, and present of rock is burning brightly. The Growin’ Up Rock Podcast was in attendance for this year’s Rock N Pod Expo and we have a virtual treasure trove of interviews with musicians, comedians, fellow podcasters and yes, music content, to share with you over the next few episodes. We will make it a point to get it out to you in the next 2 weeks. Hollywood and I will share our overall experience of the entire weekend. We have lots of laughs ...
Sep 01, 2018•1 hr 7 min
Who's the new guy in the band? In this episode, we take a look at replacement players who have impacted the bands they joined in an awesome way. Hey, I went to my job today and some new guy was there doing it. Who's the new guy? WTF? Have I been fired? Oh wait, I left because quite frankly I can't stand the rest of the guys in this band. With the music industry changing rapidly each and every day, free agency is at an all-time high. One way musicians make a living nowadays is to play in 50 bands...
Aug 26, 2018•1 hr 56 min
Under Covers of the Night is an episode about playing and discussing some very cool rock cover songs that Sonny and I discovered. When Sonny and I started to discuss doing a covers episode recently, our research quickly turned up a massive number of cover songs out there in the universe. Some awesome, and some complete crap. Some extremely close to the original, and some completely unrecognizable. You have cover songs that are part of tribute albums to a designated band or artist. You have cover...
Aug 19, 2018•1 hr 45 min
It's time for another installment of “This Ain’t No Disco” on Growin’ Up Rock. In an episode from the Growin' Up Rock Vaults. (yes we recorded this one last year - see if you can tell) This ain't no disco, but it sure as hell is rock n roll at its finest. On this episode we jump in our “Back To The Future” time traveling Delorean and go back to 1990, and what another kick ass year it was for hard rock and metal releases. It was getting close to the end for the hard rock / glam rock pretty boy mu...
Aug 12, 2018•1 hr 47 min
