Author Archives: Jamie Blaine

About Jamie Blaine

As likely to quote Axl Rose as Saint Augustine , J.M. Blaine is a licensed sex and suicide specialist who has worked in libraries, haunted houses, psych wards, megachurches, rehabs, classic rock radio stations and roller rinks.

Monday Rock City: A Conversation with Def Leppard Guitarist Phil Collen

Def Leppard founder and co-guitarist Phil Collen is one of the only human beings who can say: “My band has sold over 100 million albums.” While most of those sales came in the band’s 80s heyday, the working-class quintet is still rocking, touring, and making records, and Phil has sat down to write a memoir of his own incredible journey. He sits down with our own scribe de rock, J.M. Blaine, to talk about his memoir, his band’s upcoming 11th album, and just how in the hell a 57-year-old vegan kickboxer can get so jacked. Continue reading

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Monday Rock City: A Conversation With Lamb of God’s D. Randall Blythe

Sex, drugs, rock & roll and… a Czech prison? Lamb of God singer D. Randall Blythe’s memoir Dark Days has it all. Our own JM Blaine caught up with the newly sober wild man to talk about the road to Hell… and back. Continue reading

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Monday Rock City: A Conversation with Ed Piskor, Creator of Hip Hop Family Tree

Acclaimed comic book artist Ed Piskor’s Hip Hop Family Tree series details originator Kool Herc’s revolutionary rec room parties in the summer of ’73 up to the rise of super stars the Beastie Boys and RUN-DMC. Our own JM Blaine catches up with Piskor straight off the Copenhagen Comics Festival to, uh, rap about the past, present, and future the still-growing Hip Hop Family Tree.
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Monday Rock City: The Gospel According to Black Sabbath — A Conversation with Geezer Butler

In a fascinating conversation with our own JM Blaine, hugely influential Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler confirms that, yes, Black Sabbath were – and are – actually more Christian band than “Devil worshippers,” and always have been. Holy shit, indeed! Continue reading

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Monday Rock City: A Conversation with Duff McKagan

Bass player of the biggest, most controversial and contentious band in the world becomes… finance expert? Only one name you can attach to that story: Bestselling author, dad, and respected journalist Duff McKagan, a one-of-a-kind rock n’ roll Phoenix. He kicks back with our own J.M. Blaine to talk pinball, martial arts, being a middle aged gym rat, his old band Guns N’ Roses, and his new advice book: How to Be a Man (And Other Illusions). Continue reading

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Simple is Best: The Secret of AC/DC’s Success — A Conversation With Biographer Susan Masino

AC/DC biographer Susan Masino, also a longtime band friend, is perhaps the only writer to enjoy the honor of an actual shout-out in one of the band’s early tunes. (See below.) If that doesn’t give a biographer cred, nothing does. Masino’s Let There … Continue reading

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Monday Rock City: The Return of Eddie Trunk

He’s the official ambassador of all things rock and metal; articulate, approachable, the author of not one but two sources of required reading in the form of Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Vol. I & II. Jamie Blaine catches up with Trunk on the eve of his return to VH1 for the 14th season of That Metal Show, dishing on Axl & Slash, Def Leppard, reunions, and who, but who, is gonna fill the shoes of the rock and metal giants who still walk among us? Continue reading

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