Medium Rare Interviews

Rare classic rock interviews by Redbeard from the vast In the Studio archive

Tom Waits- Blue Valentine 40th Anniversary

In 1978 my pick for album of the year was Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town,which no doubt topped many such lists that year.Second by a gnat's eyelash on my list,however,was Blue Valentine by Tom Waits,an album which I can cherish easily for another thirty years...(more)

Heart- Dog and Butterfly- Nancy and Ann Wilson

Without sacrificing any of the hard rock cred for which they had so tenaciously fought, Seattle sisters Ann Wilson and kickin' guitarist Nancy Wilson of Heart showed considerable growth and songwriting confidence in 1978 on "Dog and Butterfly"...

Sting- The Last Ship- pt 2

"It was never my intention to write a rock musical," Sting stated emphatically here In the Studio in part two of our conversation about his "The Last Ship", "Theater is too small to really create the visceral energy of a rock'n'roll show, which is noisy and powerful. Theater is a smaller kind of music. And that's what I wanted to make - a kind of old-fashioned musical, in a way, which harkens back to a different era." Part 2.

Sting- The Last Ship- pt 1

Sting hosting a very personal discussion of his family as well as their cultural history, centered in the shipyard of the Northern England seaport city of Walls End/Newcastle, where "your casket is sealed with a riveter's gun..." and retold as fable as the bold multi-dimensional album and 2014 Broadway musical "The Last Ship". Listen here to Sting in part one of two of "The Last Ship".

Joe Satriani- Crystal Planet 20th Anniversary

Ten years after redefining what the guitar composer/ performer could be with 1987's Surfing with the Alien,  Joe Satriani had come to a crossroads in his career and knew that he needed a second act. He delivered in a big way in 1998 with Crystal…
,

Lynyrd Skynyrd Guitarist Ed King Dies at 68

We are very sad to report that original Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Ed King, the only original member who did not grow up in Jacksonville Florida but was a Southern Californian they met when he was in the Strawberry Alarm Clock, died at his home…

Hard+Heavy Box- Deep Purple, Whitesnake, KISS, Bad Company, Heart, Judas Priest, Boston

“Hard+Heavy” box set of classic hard rock interviews In the Studio with Paul Rodgers of Bad Company, Tom Schulz of Boston, Deep Purple’s Ian Gillian and Roger Glover, Heart throbs Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson, Rob Hanford from Judas Priest, Kiss mainstays Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, Ted Nugent, Whitesnake’s David Coverdale.

Matthew Sweet- Girlfriend- Altered Beast- 100% Fun

The news that Intervention Records was staging one to rehab  past Matthew Sweet releases was cause for considerable buzz of a healthy kind in 2018. After all, we are talking about Girlfriend,  his 1991 third album which The Village Voice …

Tommy Shaw- Girls With Guns- Dallas Ft. Worth 11-84

When Tommy Shaw, just recently estranged then from arena-fillers Styx, brought his Girls With Guns  solo band to a Ft. Worth nightclub in an otherwise empty strip mall on a chilly Sunday November night in 1984, what I expected to see and hear,…

Deep Purple- Now What?!- Roger Glover

It is the fifth anniversary of Deep Purple's impressive, muscular "comeback" album "Now What?!" April 26, 2013, and DP's Roger Glover joins Redbeard In the Studio.

Dire Straits- Best pt 1- Mark Knopfler

Like David Bowie did five years before and Sting would repeat five years later, Dire Straits' October 1980 third release "Making Movies"  is Mark Knopfler's unabashedly "Big Apple" album through the eyes of an Englishman in New York who had grown up an ocean away on Hemingway, Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Bob Dylan.

Eric Clapton- Forever Man- Best pt 1

Eric Clapton In the Studio "Forever Man" career interview. Part one of two.

Phil Ramone,14-Time Grammy Winner Superstar Producer

Before he died in March 2013 Phil Ramone collaborated with a plethora of music superstars, including RAY CHARLES, BOB DYLAN, ARETHA FRANKLIN, PAUL MCCARTNEY, QUINCY JONES, FRANK SINATRA,  STEVIE WONDER, BURT BACHARACH, BONO,  MADONNA, and…

Jeff Healey 1966-2008

...(cont) every headline before and since the cancer-related premature death of blues-rock phenomenon Jeff Healey March 2, 2008 has included the qualifier "blind guitarist" , as if Healey's mind-blowing facility and unique technique on the instrument,his more-than-competent rich vocals,his uncanny choice of material,and Jeff's wicked ultra-dry sense of humor were less defining of the man than his inability to read the drive-through menu at Taco Bell...(more)

Steppenwolf- John Kay

Steppenwolf should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame if only for, in early 1968, introducing the world to the term and sound "...heavy metal thunder" in the song "Born to Be Wild". That and other iconic songs  "Magic Carpet Ride","The Pusher","Rock Me","Move Over", Hoyt Axton's "Snowblind Friend" were all recorded in rapid succession from 1968 to 1971 by Steppenwolf...led by Communist East Germany-via-Canada exile John Kay (born Joachim Krauledat) whose real life story, as you will hear in this Medium Rare interview, beats any Hollywood back lot fable.