Kicking Off 2012 With a (Metal Interviewing) Bang

First of all, happy new year to anyone who visits my site, whether you're a first timer or a regular visitor (I think there's about three of those). 2012 has seen me make two main new years resolutions; To finish the things that I already have on my plate before taking on new ones, and to get more involved in certain aspects of life in the Cambridge area (namely getting back to playing tennis, and more involved in the Cambridge Drupal community).

It's nearly the end of January, and I'm not doing too bad with the resolutions so far. They've normally long gone by the wayside already. This past weekend I attended the Drupal Science Camp event at Cambridge Science Park which was an excellent weekend long event (though unfortunately I could only attend the Saturday). I met some great people and saw some very interesting sessions, and will be doing a full recap of my day there over on my freelance web design site FiveRDesign as soon as time allows me to (I'll update this post with the link when it is live).

I haven't managed to hit the tennis court yet, but I've been on serious catch up when it comes to finishing things off. Just prior to Christmas I had six interviews to write up for Rocksins (five that I'd done in person and one over T'Internet). Thankfully that number is down to a much more managable two, and I've been able to crank out four of the interviews, three of which are probably my biggest interviews so far (apart from the one with Y2J himself, Chris Jericho that I did back in May 2010 - you can read that interview here).

The first one was with Brian Marshall, bassist of both Alter Bridge and Creed. I was able to catch up with him in the bowels of Wembley Arena a few hours before Alter Bridge's career defining performance on the Wembley stage that was also recorded for a DVD (which is out the end of March for those interested). Brian was a very nice guy and it was a pleasure to get to spend time with him (as well as some time with the rest of Alter Bridge, half of Black Stone Cherry and all of Theory Of A Deadman was which a) great and b) very unexpected) - so another huge thanks to Kirsten & Lisa from Roadrunner UK - thank you ladies if you ever read this! So anyone who wants to read that interview - the link is below:

My interview with Brian Marshall of Alter Bridge & Creed from Wembley Arena, November 2011

Later the very same week I was lucky enough to go backstage at the London stop of the Defenders Of The Faith III tour, which was being headlined by Trivium and with In Flames as the special guests and direct support, two of my favourite bands of all time. Thanks again to the nice people at Roadrunner, as well as Century Media I was able to do two very special interviews. First of all I got to have a twenty minute sit down with Trivium's lead guitarist Corey Beaulieu who was a fantastic guy who had some very interesting views on a wide variety of topics, particularly on the current state of the music industry. You can read my interview with Corey on the link below:

My interview with Corey Beaulieu from Trivium from Brixton Academy, December 2011.

After talking with Corey I was able to spend some time with Austin Dickinson, son of Iron Maiden frontman Bruce and singer of fast rising British metal band Rise To Remain, but that interview isn't online yet so I'll come back to that another time. After Austin the next person on my list was In Flames drummer and general Swedish metal legend Daniel Svensson. I had a good ten - fifteen minutes with Daniel and like Corey he had some very interesting things to say for himself, which you're all more than welcome to read from the link below:

My interview with Daniel Svensson from In Flames from Brixton Academy, December 2011.

So that ends the summing up of my recent activities - I'm going to be trying to continue to keep up my resolution by finishing off my existing commitments before taking on new ones, so hopefully that means I'll be reporting on my last couple of interviews for Rocksins here on MySweetShadow soon. Until then, keep checking Rocksins for my latest writing activities.