The Metal Command Show started back in 1998 when I was a student at Baldwin Wallace College. I named the show after one of my favorite thrash metal bands of all time, Exodus. Since then the show has garnered quite a following among metalheads. The show was continued when I left from school. It has featured many great metal bands both very underground to very big name bands.
I live for this music, and in fact, this type of music has moved me more than anything in this universe. This is something that I love to do as a big thank you to all of the musicians who really work hard to make this type of music, and speaking from the musician’s standpoint myself (I am a musician by the way), many bands don’t really get the credit, exposure or props that they really deserve. Doing this show is one way to help the metal scene and help preserve the interest in this music for future generations. This is not something I do to “further myself”, this is something I do to thank all of the metal musicians out there for their hard work and dedication to the music that myself and millions of others love.
I have also geared the show more towards the underground bands. I usually love to feature bands who may not be that well known here in the USA. Most of these bands are established, have great musicianship, great songs, good production and they are professional. However, these same groups just never get the recognition they deserve. So I have made it a personal mission to seek these types of bands out and to help them any way I can
Many bands have appeared on the show over the years so here’s a pretty good rough list of bands who have been interviewed on the show although there have been many more, Over the years I have lost track of who exactly has been on the show! (In Alphabetical Order): Accept, Angel Dust, Angra, Annihilator, Anthrax, Armored Saint, Artillery, At No End, Avantasia, Avalon, Ayreon, Axxis, Biastfear, Black Sabbath, Blaze Bailey, Blind Guardian, Bloodbound, Blotted Science, Brainstorm, Bruce Dickinson, Cage, Cellbound, Chris Caffery, Cioroner, Circle II Circle, Creation's End, Cyris, DC Cooper, David Readman, Death Angel, Dio, Dirty Deeds, Disturbed, Doro Pesch, Dream Theater, Edguy, Eternal Legacy, Exodus, Falconer, F5, Fear Factory, Flotsam & Jetsam, Gamma Ray, Grave Digger, Grip Inc., Halford, Hammerfall, Heathen, Helloween, Iced Earth, Imagika, Indestructable Noise Command, In Flames, Iron Maiden, Iron Savior, Ivory Tower, Jaded Heart, Jag Panzer, Jon Oliva, Judas Priest, Kamelot, Labyrinth, Lick The Blade, Leatherwolf, Liege Lord, Lions Share, Luca Turilli, Manowar, Masterplan, Megadeth, Metal Church, Metallica, Michael Kiske, Morgana Lefay, , Motley Crue, Motorhead, Nevermore, Nightwish, Nocturnal Rites, Onslaught, OverKill, Pagan’s Mind, Pariah, Pharaoh, Pink Cream 69, Primal Fear, Prototype, Rage, Rebellion, Rhapsody, Ride The Sky, Rob Rock, Roy Z, Running Wild, Savatage, Saxon, Scanner, Sebastian Bach, Shatter Messiah, Silent Force, Sinergy, Skid Row, Skyclad, Slayer, Soilwork, Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, Streams of Passion, Sybreed, Symphony X, Symphorce, Testament, Tim Henderson (BWBK), Timo Tolkki, Vindicator, Virgin Steele, Venomin James, Vision Divine, W.A.S.P., Watchtower, Yngwie Malmsteen and many more!
I started listening to metal a long time ago. Back in 1985. I was all of about 8 years old and in second or third grade. I don't remember now. What I do remember is my friend Jason brought in a couple cassette tapes of Metallica's " Kill Em All" and "Ride The Lightning" and of course brought in his portable walkman cassette player. I remember hearing "Hit The Lights" and for whatever reason I was hooked. This music really moved me, especially for as young as I was at the time.
Over the years I got into a lot of great bands, mostly through tape trading because after all, you have to be 16 to get a job and earn money although I used to use part of my allowance money to buy a CD each week until I finally became employed.
Over time I began listening to a lot of heavy metal bands, especially in high school. You also have to understand that back then, from 1992-1996 it was the height of the grunge era and metal was considered "uncool". I decided to say screw that and kept listening to it. Since that time I have explored a LOT of different bands out there in the genre.....well over 300. I am a huge collector of music, box sets, and other cool stuff. Some obscure bands and some big. High school was also the time I began my interest in being a musician. I jammed a lot with some buddies of mine but nothing much came of it.
Then in 1998 my life changed. I met the guys in Helloween. I had been a fan of this band for a long time and I had started a website as a college computer class project. The website was of course a fansite about Helloween. Eventually Michael Weikath asked me to run the band's official website and so began my career in promotion. Being a musician became secondary because around the same time is when I was doing my radio show called "The Metal Command" on 88.3 WBWC here in Cleveland (I'll get to that later though...).
I ended up learning quite a bit about promoting bands and promoting them over the internet (back then that was when the internet was sort of new and JUST starting to take off), I learned a lot about promoting a band and representing them on an international level. Also at this time a very good friendship developed between the guys in Helloween and myself. We have since become good friends and although I don't do as much as I used to with their site. I still do what I can to help them out. The influence they had on me as a person will always be with me.
I had been singing in some cover bands and doing some studio work for bands vocalwise since 1999. However I had always wanted to be a frontman and I finally answered an ad for a singer spot in the band Mo Rage. We were really successful in the Cleveland/Akron local scene, playing a lot of shows and selling a lot of CDs. When I eventually left that band in late 2005 I had placed an ad that I was looking for a band. Within 10 minutes after placing the ad online Chris Matyus calls me. I heard the first demo for the upcoming Archetype album and was floored. I sang on the demo and they asked me to join within a week and we have since recorded an album due out in 2012.
Along with Archetype which is more or less a band that will not play many shows I was looking for another musical project to get involved in. After searching for some awesome people to jam with I found Joe Sims of the band Axemaster. Axemaster is a band with a long history and devout following around the world.
Since we met we have been writing the next Axemaster release which stands to be the best release that this band has ever put out. Also in 2011 I set about to design a new website for the radio show. It has taken a year now but now the website has been launched and things in 2012 stand to really bode well for the show.
So there you have it, a little bit about me ladies and gentleman. This gives you a brief account of who I am and just what I do for the show. I have to say that so far it has been a blast hosting this show. I am not only part of a great metal radio scene here in the Cleveland area but I have talked to and met a lot of great people out there! Here's to a killer 2012!
-Tony (January 2012)
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