Launched in 2007 and active for 11 years, Ryan’s Rock Show was a music website and interview series that delved into rock, metal, and hardcore genres. Founded by Ryan Minic, the platform became a repository of band news and exclusive interviews with renowned musicians. Read more…
We all know Keith Buckley. The renowned frontman who marshaled Every Time I Die from the outskirts of Buffalo, NY to the corners of the globe, transforming the band over the course of two decades into an international powerhouse. From the early days of their breakout...
It’s been a while since we’ve talked with Dead Letter Circus. Five years to be exact. Back when we did our previous interview with the Australian band, they had just started touring in the States, and were trekking across the country with a bunch of metal...
Maybe there’s something in the air, but over the past few years we’ve seen a bunch of bands come back from the dead. From Autumn To Ashes are one of the most recent resurrectors, and they recently wrapped up a West Coast reunion tour where they played a...
All things considered, it’s pretty crazy how Wovenwar started. Everybody knows the story of what happened with As I Lay Dying, but not many people know that the seeds of Wovenwar were actually planted over a decade ago deep in the heart of Texas, long before As...
During one of the only house shows Periphery ever played in their 10-year history, the floor of the place collapsed. That’s what Misha Mansoor told us after we wrapped up our interview in Hollywood. “It was the last house show we played,”...
Given the names involved, it’s no surprise that Palms have attracted a bunch of attention since the release of their self-titled debut album last year. The band that features Deftones frontman Chino Moreno with former members of Isis garnered endless...
We’ve been talking about Silver Snakes for a few years now, and if you’re already familiar with what they do you’re ahead of the learning curve. Featuring members of Horse The Band, the SoCal rock group have made quite an impression on the...
We interviewed Touche Amore once before, back in the day when they were supporting the release of their 2009 debut album …To the Beat of a Dead Horse. At the time the young post-hardcore band from Burbank, CA were just starting to make a splash in the music...
There’s no doubt that Animals As Leaders have taken heavy music to a new plateau. What started out as Tosin Abasi’s outlet to express his creativity has turned into a global sensation, resonating in the bloodstream of today’s youth. But the road to...
It’s hard to imagine that Deafheaven’s success all spawned off the release of their 2010 demo. Even frontman George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy are among the disbelievers, especially since they recorded the four-track effort out of boredom. Since...
Norma Jean’s fall tour with Vanna and KEN mode has been a hectic one. The other week while passing through Chicago somebody broke into their van and took a bunch of their personal belongings. “Someone broke into our van and stole a lot from us,” the...
Just weeks before The Safety Fire’s sophomore album, Mouth Of Swords, came out in September, guitarist Derya “Dez” Nagle was involved in a cycling accident and had to undergo surgery. “Few weeks of rest and all will be well,” he said back in late July about the...
When Caleb Shomo quit Attack Attack! last December he was in the darkest year of his life. “Having thousands of people tell you you’re a ‘fat piece of shit’ isn’t exactly the easiest thing to deal with at 17,” he said in his farewell...
If you’ve been a longtime RRS reader, you may remember one of our very first video interviews ever, done back in 2009 with RX Bandits. That one — filled with cheap beer and long talks of Fugazi — was conducted a few months before Mandala...
“We hear about these books, like the Motley Crue book… so what, man,” says Ben Weinman. “We have stories that will make that look like shit.” It’s a hot spring day outside Chain Reaction in Anaheim and The Dillinger Escape Plan...
“We need five minutes,” says Liam Cormier to the impatient valet, who’s trying to kick us out of the lot behind The Roxy. The cars are starting to roll in for tonight’s show with Kvelertak and Cancer Bats, and the dudes at the valet booth are...
“It’s sketchy back here,” says Jonny Craig as he steps out of his van to scope the dark alley. We’re in the middle of California’s High Desert in a narrow loading dock behind the venue that stretches nearly a football field long. Aside...
“You let your hair grow out,” says Andy Williams as we soundcheck for the interview. “You look like a fucking hippie.” In the courtyard across the street from the Glass House in Pomona, the Every Time I Die guitarist talks...
“It’s loud in there,” says Omar Rodriguez-Lopez in a dark alley behind the Troubadour. It’s a cool autumn evening in West Hollywood and inside the venue they’re sound-checking for the first Bosnian Rainbows L.A. show, a new project...
It’s the last day of the Summer Slaughter tour and things are hectic in Anaheim. “They won’t let us take our food inside,” guitarist Paul Waggoner says, adjusting the window blinds at the front of the group’s RV. Security has been tight...
“I was thinking I was a big buff guy that wanted to fight people at every show,” Ian Watkins jokes. On a hot August evening outside a restaurant on the Sunset Strip, the Lostprophets frontman tells stories of Public Disturbance, a mid-90s UK hardcore band...
“I opened the door and it was all white,” Josh Scogin recalls of throwing flour on Alesana during The Chariot’s 2008 tour with the band. “They went up to play and every time they’d headbang there would be this powder of flour...
“It was surreal being there,” bassist Johnny Adger says of touring Europe in 2010 with Them Crooked Vultures. “On the first night, [Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones, and Josh Homme] introduced themselves to us. I was like ‘yeah, I know who you...
“We teepeed Thrice while they were playing,” says Pelican bassist Bryan Herweg. “We went out and actually wrapped them up in toilet paper.” Chatting at a park bench on a calm street in Pomona, Herweg and guitarist Trevor de Brauw reminisce of...
In the early 2000s when MonstrO drummer Bevan Davies moved to LA with his band Comes With The Fall, one of the group’s first-ever fans was Alice in Chains mastermind Jerry Cantrell. “When we had a show…[Cantrell] would come out and do encores with us on...
When John Baizley and Peter Adams of Baroness were preteens, they played together in a band called Jab. “We would build stages from two-by-fours and plywood,” guitarist/vocalist Baizley says. “At that point, we hadn’t even seen shows except for...
When The Word Alive frontman Tyler “Telle” Smith played bass for Greeley Estates in 2008, he remembers trashing a hotel room. “We toilet-papered our hotel room for no reason,” he laughs. “We woke up with toilet paper...
When Æges frontman Kemble Walters played in Juliette and the Licks, he did a few studio sessions with Dave Grohl. “[Grohl] draws this picture and gives it to the runner there. ‘I want you to buy all these parts,'” he says imitating Grohl’s...
On the loading dock of a security-intense venue during the Anaheim stop of the band’s headlining tour, For Today frontman Mattie Montgomery reminisces of signing with Facedown Records in 2008. “Our drummer David [Morrison] was on the Facedown street team...
On a warm winter day at Bonnerhaus, the Ryan’s Rock Show headquarters in North Hollywood, O’Brother guitarist Johnny Dang speaks of touring with Circa Survive. “[We] were going to play a prank on them the first day of tour [in 2010], but they were too...
Outside a coffee shop on Wilshire Blvd, Veil of Maya guitarist Marc Okubo remembers stories from the band’s first-ever tour with After The Burial. “[We played a show for] some kids in their parents’ garage that didn’t do any promotion at...
Hours before the group’s sold out show at House of Blues Sunset, August Burns Red drummer Matt Greiner speaks of growing up on Solid State Records bands. “My parents didn’t let me listen to anything else,” Greiner laughs in the dim green room...
On an early November morning en route to Salt Lake City, Stray From The Path had a run with disaster – a patch of black ice sent the band’s van and trailer swerving off a frozen U.S. highway before the break of dawn. “We flipped and then a semi-truck...
Awaiting an order of gourmet sandwiches at a restaurant on the Sunset Strip, Dead Letter Circus guitarist Rob Maric and frontman Kim Benzie speak of mainstream media and its influence on society. “It’s not natural to have violence broadcasted to you...
During the band’s infancy in the late 90s, Thrice would perform at any shows they could get. “We played at a SeaWorld [parking lot],” guitarist Teppei Teranishi laughs, speaking candidly in the green room of Los Angeles’ Mayan Theater....
“We were just young and hungry, and wanted to do whatever we could,” guitarist Rob Arnold reflects on Chimaira’s early days as a band. “Now being in it, we just know so much more — so much of the reality.” Sitting outside a cafe on...
On a warm autumn day in Southern California over cold beer and YouTube videos, the members of Zechs Marquise talk of their recent boating experience. “It was a day off [during the RX Bandits farewell tour] and we all went to [Shasta Lake],” bassist Marfred...
In the late 90’s, Jeremy Hiebert’s main goal as a young musician was to play in a band that sold 10,000 records. “I wanted to be on the road,” he comments. “I love [going] to a city that I’ve never been to, and [walking around to...
On a day in 2003, Ian Fike received a phone call that changed his life: his Portland-based band Ever We Fall landed a deal with Rise Records. At the time a sophomore in high school, Fike found himself in the studio recording what would become the band’s debut EP,...
When The Faceless played the Whisky in 2004 with a D.C. band called Reflux, guitarist Michael Keene recalls a misfortune. “I remember [Evan Brewer] got robbed that night,” he laughs, reminiscing on a show that marked a turning point in the...
This Is Hell bassist Pieter Vandenberg insists that last fall’s run supporting Bring Me The Horizon and August Burns Red wasn’t just any kind of tour — it was a rock spectacle. “[Vocalist Travis Reilly] would get up on the mic… and would go...
When Scale The Summit played Prosthetic Records their four song demo in 2006, the label had little interest in signing instrumental bands. “[Prosthetic] said word for word: ‘[we’ll] never sign an instrumental band,'” guitarist Chris Letchford...
Le Butcherettes frontwoman Teri Gender Bender has little patience for unenthusiastic crowds, especially ones in Arizona. Hesitant to play the band’s Mesa show on their recent stint with Deftones, Gender Bender, raised in Mexico from age 14, made it a point to...
Five years ago, Animals As Leaders guitarist Javier Reyes auditioned for Periphery. “He didn’t make the cut!” jokes lead guitarist Tosin Abasi. As he laughs and shakes his head, Reyes defends himself, “They were 20 years old, and I was 26. I...
Ever wonder what band headlined the first Warped Tour in ’95? The answer: Quicksand, fronted by Walter Schreifels. “At the time I thought it was a budget Lollapalooza,” he recalls. As he sips on a cup of coffee at Bonnerhaus, the Ryan’s Rock...
It’s been a couple years since my last interview with Dredg, and within that time, I’ve become infatuated with Dan The Automator projects Handsome Boy Modeling School and Lovage. As I get reacquainted with Dredg vocalist Gavin Hayes and guitarist Mark...
Over a late afternoon lunch on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, Asking Alexandria guitarist Ben Bruce expresses his admiration for actor Charlie Sheen. “I just want to meet him. I just want to party with him. I wish he’d call me and say ‘hey, come to...
I was listening to Glassjaw’s Worship and Tribute album a few weeks back, and thought to myself: what’s former guitarist Todd Weinstock been up to lately? Weinstock — who had been a member of Glassjaw from 1996 to 2004, and appeared on all releases from the...
It’s Friday night in West Hollywood, and Periphery guitarist Alex Bois just picked up an unexpected souvenir. “We got a $100 ticket [for parking on Sunset Blvd],” he exclaims. “But it’s ok, it’s Friday night and we’re here in Hollywood.” Perhaps optimism like this is...
A lot can change in 18 months — especially if you’re Dance Gavin Dance. Since my last interview with the band in September 2009, the group has seen a number of lineup adjustments (most notably the return of original vocalist Jonny Craig and screamer Jon...
Given the current state of the music industry, it’s often hard to know if a band creates art, or if they’re a manufactured product designed to sell. Half of the time at shows, it’s hard to tell if a band is playing for real, or if they’re playing to pre-recorded...
I often wonder about the tipping point of bands. At what moment in any given successful band’s career — in conjunction with marketing, public relations, and relentless touring efforts — did they enter the forefront of public consciousness, and what caused...
What is the definition of a successful band? A band that graces the covers of mainstream magazines, or is success defined as consistent touring, playing in front of 20 kids per night? Trap Them vocalist Ryan McKenney has little concern for mainstream notoriety or...
A year ago this December, As Blood Runs Black posted a demo version of a song with a new vocalist, who ironically quit the band merely a few weeks after joining. Their next vocalist, who was introduced in February, left the band in August in the midst of a tour with...
The sun calmly sets over Southern California’s vast land, while security escorts me to Circa Survive’s green room. The dim silhouettes of transplanted palm trees against the starbust sun, gently swaying with arid Santa Ana winds, bid me farewell like...
Out of the hundreds of interviews that I’ve done for Ryan’s Rock Show, only a select few have truly been fascinating. While some bands may see a Ryan’s Rock Show interview as a cheap exchange of public relations, for me these interviews give first-hand insight into...
First week numbers are in for All That Remains’ new album For We Are Many — the record sold nearly 30,000 units in the first seven days of its release, landing at number 10 on the Billboard 200. That’s a pretty crazy number considering I don’t...
If you’ve been a Ryan’s Rock Show reader for a minute, you may remember the interview I did a while back with Death By Stereo. I got into a pretty long discussion with the dudes about the early Orange County punk scene, and how a small community of kids...
I’ve been really diggin’ this band called Orbs. So much to where my daily summer routine goes like this: wake up and listen to Orbs, pee, listen to Orbs while eating a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, post news on Ryan’s Rock Show and pick up hot...
Last October when I did this interview with Thursday, Geoff Rickly talked up Touche Amore and claimed that they were one of the best hardcore bands in LA. So the other night while I was watching “Blossom” reruns and getting drunk on Four Loko, I randomly...