How did your love for metal start?
Well let’s see…I was around 11 years old, living with my father at the time. He had this console with many cd's and a stereo. The music selection was mainly Latino artists with the occasional rock choice until I came across a sealed CD and like any curious kid I wanted to unwrap it as soon as possible. This life changing compilation was Black Sabbath’s We Sold Our Soul For Rock ‘n’ Roll. I was not aware of what it was and had not been told about this band yet despite the fact that at the time I was already listening to a few bands like Rush, Def Leppard, etc. Even so, nothing had yet held the dark sound that Black Sabbath had to offer me. I popped that baby in not knowing that my life would be changed from that very first time I heard War Pigs. The next album to come into my possession was Judas Priest’s live album, Metal Works. This took me to a different spectrum of metal, thus making me realize I had a lot of discovering and hunting to do in the world of metal, a journey I am still on today.
How did you get involved with Metal Assault Radio?
Before Metal Assault Radio I had worked for another metal site as a DJ. After that ended I decided to take a break for awhile and focus on some other things. I was contacted by a few sites looking for DJs, M.A.R. being one of them. At the time I was not interested in doing live radio (I pre-recorded my shows on the old site) for several reasons, so I kind of stewed in the idea for awhile and/or declined the opportunities. A little later I posted on my Twitter account links to download a few of my old issues just to share with some past listeners, as well as new. The owner of M.A.R. saw the link, downloaded and listened to one, then contacted me again asking if I’d like to work with M.A.R. He offered to let me do a pre-recorded show if that would make me feel more comfortable to come on board, thus I accepted. That lasted about 1 or 2 issues until I decided I didn’t want to deal with it anymore and started doing live, whereas I still am today and loving it!
In what area is the show broadcasted?
If you have computer and internet access, you can enjoy M.A.R. at any hour of any day in any part of the world. ;) However, if you are interested in any particular DJ’s show and the hours of their show, all of our schedules are available at the website. If you tune in at a point when none of us are on the air then you can enjoy The Pit, our Auto DJ.
How many listeners are there approximately?There is an average of about 2,000 - 2,500 a day, reaching between 90 - 100 different
countries. Naturally some days are better than others, and some hours of the day peak over others
Is the show dependent of sponsors?
Nope! Not dependent on them at all. The site does work with some great record labels etc.
What do you think of metal nowadays?
Ooh hard question to tackle well metal today is certainly not what I would like it to be, haha. I am very proud of the local scenes, especially where I am from, Seattle. I think local scenes seem to be where the majority of the talent is hidden nowadays. It is clear that thrash has had a major comeback and to be honest I’m not sure if it’s really a good thing or not. I am happy that it did because it’s nice to see some of the classic bands getting back out on the road again and touring. However I feel that the majority of the newer thrash bands have hopped on this wave while seeing it possible to excel. That does NOT go for all of them though. There are some that are incredibly impressive and talented. As far as other genres go...I can’t stand any type of “core” metal. It needs to have its own name and label and should not be associated with metal whatsoever. I am most certainly not talking about grindcore though, that shit slays!
What are your favorite bands?
I know that this is a hard question for almost anyone to answer, but as always I will try my best to mention the key bands that come to mind even while my mind is going a mile a minute! A few of the bands that hold great importance to me are Agalloch, Iron Maiden, Death, Windir, Rush, King Diamond/Mercyful Fate and Pink Floyd. Although there is a wide spectrum of music that I enjoy, I feel that this mini-list is a well rounded one. ;)
Are you a fulltime DJ? If not, what do you do besides the show?
I do not DJ fulltime, however that would be killer! I had worked for the same company outside of M.A.R. for about 3 and a half years. That part of my life has ended, and I am now on a new excursion in life. I was daytime jobless for a few months before I stumbled upon the opportunity, brought on by a friend, to work for the band Queensrÿche. I worked for them as a roadie over the summer and that was amazing.
What is the focus in your program?
There is not a constant main focus to my show. Some weeks I have a theme and some are more random. I am open to requests some weeks more than others depending on if I am trying to keep a theme or not. There have been times where I’ll focus on death metal for an hour, thrash metal the next and then black metal for the last. I like to focus on a certain region sometimes also, for example I’ve done 3 hour shows on strictly German metal ranging from bands like Running Wild to Necronomicon to Airwolf to Exumer to Masterplan.
How long does Metal Assault excist?
Metal Assault Radio was established in May of 2009. I feel honored to have started here so early and have been able to see the many great doors open for M.A.R. as well as growth and change.
What is your top 10 album list ever?
As hard as this is to do
Morbid Saint - Spectrum of Death
Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time
Atrophy - Socialized Hate
Death - Individual Thought Patterns
Windir - Sóknardalr
Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane
Agalloch - The Mantle
Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain
Agalloch - Pale Folklore
Terrorizer - World Downfall
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