Photos By Jacob Striewski

There’s a certain amount of pros versus cons that have to be weighed when factoring in an extensive, four-day music festival such as Welcome to Rockville. On the one hand, you’re getting in a LOT of your favorite bands in a very short span of time. But on the other hand, you’re also getting much shorter set lists, and dealing with WAY more obnoxious, drunken fools than you would on any other given normal day of the week (such a blast I’ll tell ya).

It’s a definite take-the-good-with-the-bad type of situation to say the least. But for better or worse, I bit the bullet, taking my son Jacob once again to catch up on many of the bands I’ve already seen over the years, but he had yet to have the chance to catch live himself (my wife Brooke wisely decided to sit most of it out, only attending the first night at the Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, May 9). Said first day was one for the books indeed, and I will try to recall as much of the massive festival as I possibly can here, from start to finish.

DAY 1:

The very first band we caught while walking up on the very first day was Saliva, and we could hear the sounds of their generic 2000 hit “Click Click Boom” (thankfully) ending just as we entered the gates. Luckily ’90s rockers Stabbing Westward were up directly afterwards, although something seemed slightly “off” since the last time I saw them back in 2019 (namely some lineup changes that now included the lack of a bass player). After catching a few tracks in the form of “Falls Apart,” “The Thing I Hate,” and “I Don’t Believe,” it was already on to the next band, which at that point was Flyleaf w/ Lacy Sturm.

I can’t say I’ve ever really sat down and listened to Flyleaf a single day of my life, but there was no denying frontwoman Sturm had a certain presence (not to mention cuteness) to her. After a few minutes of the chaos that is Shadows Fall (a little closer up my ally with songs like “King of Nothing” and “Still I Rise”), Christian rockers Skillet blasted through several of their admirable well-known anthems like “Feel Invincible,” “Rise,” “Surviving the Game,” “Awake and Alive,” and “Hero,” it was time to catch one of the biggest draws of the entire festival for me…Max Cavalera and Soulfly.

I had seen his former band Sepultura a couple of times previously (most recently at last year’s Welcome to Rockville), but never with frontman Cavalera at the helm. So it was a blast finally hearing such epic tracks as “Bleed,” “Refuse/Resist,” “Jumpdafuckup,” and “Eye for an Eye” with Cavalera’s distinct voice over them (along with his son Zyon behind him on the drumkit to boot).

Max Cavalera and Soulfly on stage on Thursday, May 9 (Photo by Jesse Striewski).

Next up was an even bigger favorite for me; Anthrax. I’ve seen them a handful of times prior as well (seems like each time with a different lineup), but this time bassist/former Rewind It interviewee Frank Bello was unable to attend, so the band enlisted none other than original bassist Dan Liker (also of S.O.D. and Nuclear Assault, among many others) to fill in for him on this tour for the first time in four decades.

I instantly felt like I was watching metal history as the opening notes of “Among the Living” kicked in and the guys absolutely slayed the stage! “Caught in a Mosh,” “Madhouse,” “Metal Thrashing Mad” (finally something off the first album live!), “Antisocial,” “A.I.R.,” “Got the Time,” and “Indians” all felt new again (no disrespect to Bello of course).

Metal legends Anthrax performing with original bassist Dan Liker for the first time in four decades on 5/9/24 (Photo by Jesse Striewski).

A few more acts more in line with my son’s tastes than my own in the form of August Burns Red, Mudvayne, and Biohazard all followed before the mighty Judas Priest, who it had been nearly twenty years since the last time I saw them all the way back at Ozzfest in 2004 (not counting catching spinoff act KK’s Priest earlier this year). There just felt like there was something missing this time though unfortunately without both KK Downing and Glen Tipton handling guitar duties.

New tracks and classics alike in the form of “Panic Attack,” “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’,” “Rapid Fire,” “Breaking the Law,” “Lighting Strike,” “Love Bites,” “Sinner,” and even “Turbo Lover” (a nice welcomed addition that I don’t recall them playing back in ’04) were all heard before we were heading to the next act…Insane Clown Posse (which proved to be a mammoth mistake).

The sound during ICP’s set was beyond comprehension, and it was hard to even distinguish whether it was intentionally done, or just a major foul up (either way it was terrible). Needless to say it didn’t take us long to move on to the next one again.

And that next one this time was Disturbed. Those who know me know that I’ve never claimed to be a big nu metal fan by any means, but there are some bands in the genre I can tolerate more than others, with Disturbed no doubt being one of them. Opening with “Hey You,” the band must’ve been suffering from similar technical difficulties as ICP (though not quite as bad) as chants of “Fix the Sound!” could be clearly heard throughout the Speedway. But that didn’t stop the band from going through numbers like “Stupify,” Ten Thousand Fists,” “Prayer,” “Bad Man,” a cover of Genesis’ “Land of Confusion,” and “The Game.” But their cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” seemed like the perfect time to head on to the next act.

Enter Kerry King of Slayer, a man I’ve seen and even photographed on stage on more than one occasion over the years. After the two sub-par sets we had just witnessed, it was a total breath of fresh air of metal for sure. Hearing the 1986 classic “Raining Blood” live again, and new tracks like “From Hell I Rise” (all being sung by Death Angel vocalist Mark Osegueda and with former Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel in tow as well, which were added bonuses for sure) was completely worthwhile.

Legendary Slayer guitarist Kerry King and his current “supergroup” that also includes Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda and ex-Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel on Thursday, 5/9/24 (Photo by Jesse Striewski).

It was while transferring from one stage to the next again that I could see Disturbed were not only still on, but had invited a female guest singer on stage with them. I would later come to find out that guest was none other than Ann Wilson of Heart Fame (the two parties share vocal duties on the track “Don’t Tell Me”); it was a moment I wish we had been fully aware was happening, though I’m still glad we witnessed what little of it that we actually did.

And finally, Motley Crue. There was a time when I genuinely loved Motley Crue, but unfortunately they have not aged all that gracefully. With this latest appearance, I’ve now seen them a total of four times since 2005, and it feels as though they are merely climbing further and further downhill (taking original guitarist Mick Mars out of the equation in favor of John 5 was not necessarily the right move for them, either).

After kicking things off with a rather embarrassing “Breaking News” segment, the band opened their set decently enough with a somewhat strong version of their 1991 single “Primal Scream.” But from then on, it was merely more of the same old situation (if you’ve seen Motley Crue once, you’ve seen them more than enough times) that included “Too Fast For Love,” “Wild Side,” “Shout at the Devil,” “Live Wire,” and “On with the Show.” By the time the guys got to “new” track “Dogs of War,” it felt like more than a signal to finally call it a night.

Motley Crue closing out the first night of Welcome to Rockville on Thursday, 5/9/24 (Photo By Jesse Striewski).

Day 2:

The second day day of the festival was admittedly the least interesting one to me. The first act Jacob and I would catch on this day was ’90s female rockers Kittie, who I can’t say I was ever really a fan of, though there was a small amount of curiosity to hear how tracks like “Brackish” would sound firsthand.

After that, there was a bit of downtime before the next band of interest, Russian deathcore act Slaughter to Prevail, was on. I had only really given their music a spin once or twice in the past (unlike my kid, a noted fan), but there was no denying the amount of energy they threw down. After them, it was on to the sounds of ’90s punks The Offspring (my third time seeing them live since 2009).

I’ve always held a small spot in my heart for The Offspring, although their views boarder on idiocy to me, and the unceremonious dismissals of both founding bassist Greg K and former drummer Pete Parada (the latter of which apparently getting the boot over not wanting to get vaccinated – again, sheer idiocy) were downright lame in my book. Still, there’s no denying the catchy-ness of songs like “Come Out and Play,” “All I Want,” “Want You Bad,” “Staring at the Sun,” “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” “Blitzkrieg Bop” (one of at least three bands to cover the overplayed Ramones anthem at Rockville this year), “Bad Habbit,” “Gotta Get Away,” “Why Don’t You Get a Job?,” “(Can’t Get My) Head Around You,” “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy),” and “The Kids Aren’t Alright.”

The Offspring performing at Welcome to Rockville on Friday, 5/10/24 (Photo By Jesse Striewski).

Next up were Falling in Reverse, and although former Escape the Fate frontman Ronnie Radke still maintains the same energy he did back when I first saw the band at Earthday Birthday in 2011, something just feels “missing” now. Whether it’s the numerous lineup changes since then, or the quality of the music itself that has since been released, it’s not as thrilling of an act as it might have once been. Still, there was no denying the crowd was eating up tracks like “Zombified,” “I’m Not a Vampire,” “Losing My Mind,” “Fuck You and All Your Friends,” “The Drug in Me Is You,” “Just Like You,” “Popular Monster,” “Voices in My Head,” “Ronald,” and “Watch the World Burn.”

It had been quite awhile since I last saw Faith No More frontman Mike Patton live on stage with the short-lived Tomahawk back in 2002, and I was really looking forward to hearing the legendary singer on stage again with an act as eclectic as Mr. Bungle. Although the band is not for everyone’s tastes, is was still a trip watching Patton belt out the likes of “Hell Awaits,” “True,” and “You Lose” (among many others) alongside former FNM bandmate Trey Spruance, Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, and original Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo.

Next up was singer/rapper Jelly Roll, who back when we first attended Rockville the first time in 2021 was one of the lower tier acts there (though I don’t recall actually seeing him at that time), but has since blown up to full headliner status. A cover of Toby Keith’s “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” was the first song I could hear emanating through the speakers while walking up. If for nothing more than sheer curiosity, we stuck it out long enough to hear tracks/hits like “Smoking Section,” “Same Asshole,” “The Hate Goes On,” “Bottle of Mary Jane,” “Dead Man Walking,” “Son of a Sinner,” and “Need a Favor” before going over to the last stage of the night for (I can’t believe I’m even saying it) Limp Bizkit.

Let me first start by saying I was never, not once a Limp Bizkit fan, ever (in fact, you might say I was even a “hater” back when they first emerged on the scene). But for whatever reason my kid is a fan, so I endured their set, all the way from the opening of “Break Stuff” to a cover of Riff Raff’s “Tip Toe Wing In My Jawwdinz” (can’t say I know that one!) with rapper Riff Raff himself. Even Jelly Roll made another appearance to help the band out on their cover of The Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes.” I still can’t say I’m a fan, but after seeing them live, I can see how some might find Fred Durst and company entertaining now.

Day 3:

Saturday the 11th was definitely another day for the books. We arrived just in time to catch the very last song of Mammoth WVH’s (former Van Halen bassist and the son of the late Eddie Van Halen’s project) final song. But it was okay considering he would make another appearance later on in the day (stay tuned).

Stone Temple Pilots are one of those ’90s bands that have alluded me for many years now (though I was lucky enough to catch late singer Scott Weiland live on stage with Velvet Revolver in both 2005 and 2007). Even without Weiland there, his presence could still be felt as songs like “Wicked Garden,” “Big Bang Baby,” “Vaseline,” “Crackerman,” “Big Empty,” “Plush,” “Interstate Love Song,” “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart,” and “Sex Type Thing” all echoed through the air that afternoon.

Primus were up next, and significantly more entertaining than the first time I saw them open for Tool back in 2016 (I knew it was a good sign as I walked up to the sounds of “Sgt. Baker” – my personal favorite by them – being played). More gems like “Here Come the Bastards,” “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver,” and “American Life” could be heard before it was time to move on to the next stage already.

Les Claypool and Primus rock Rockville on Saturday, 5/11/24 (Photo by Jesse Striewski).

Helmet are another one of those bands I can’t say I ever really got that into either, and the one and only time I saw them prior (back at the 2006 Warped Tour), they didn’t really leave much of an impression. The only noticeable difference I can recall between the two shows was that they actually played the track “Milquetoast” (from 1994’s The Crow soundtrack) this time around.

Same goes for the next act, A Day to Remember. While I’ve seen them a couple of times previously as well, nothing has really left that big of an impression on me. One could of course hear such “hits” of theirs that day, including “The Downfall of us All” and “All I Want,” for better or worse. Still, it was no worse than catching a glimpse of L7’s set, which had to be the most unappealing act of the entire festival, and I don’t recall seeing a single smiling face between the group or the crowd.

The next band Greta Van Fleet seemed like a talented enough bunch with their throwback sound to ’70s rock, though can’t say I’ve ever given their music much mind, either. But as if L7 weren’t unappealing enough, Queens of the Stone Age had to be the most boring act of them all (and I actually don’t mind some of the material frontman Josh Homme has been a part of as a member of Kyuss). Tracks like “Little Sister” and “Go with the Flow” had me wanting to go somewhere else indeed.

Finally, the mighty Foo Fighters took the stage, and I had finally felt like I had come full circle seeing a member of Nirvana live in the form of frontman Dave Grohl (not to mention touring guitarist Pat Smear, also known for his time with ’70s punks the Germs, among others). Aiding them behind the drumkit now in place of the late Taylor Hawkins was also Josh Freese of The Vandals, Nine Inch Nails, and Guns N’ Roses (just to name a few).

I had not actually planned to stay the entirety of their two-hour set that night, but circumstances out of my control kept me there until the very last note of the very last song, which in hindsight I’m actually glad I did despite my exhaustion. The band started off with a strong start in the form of “All My Life,” “No Son of Mine,” “Rescued,” “The Pretender,” “Times Like These,” “La Dee Day,” “Breakout,” “Medicine at Midnight,” and “Walk.”

The most interesting moments of the evening however came when some guitar and keyboard solos lead to the band goofing around and just having a good time. First via the Beastie Boys’ “Sabatage,” then some individual moments; Pat Smear returning to his punk rock roots via “Blitzkreig Bop” (again with that song!) and Josh Freese pounding out some Nine Inch Nails beats via “March of the Pigs.” But the best moment of them all came when Grohl tricked his audience into believing he was playing Van Halen’s “Eruption,” only for it to be revealed it was actually Wolfgang Van Halen behind the scenes throwing down his father’s old riffs (a little bit of “Hot For Teacher” was then played for good measure, too).

Wolfgang Van Halen makes a surprise appearance mid-way through the Foo Fighters’ set on 5/11/24 to play some classic Van Halen riffs (Photo by Jesse Striewski).

After finishing the shenanigans, the band got back to business with “My Hero,” “The Sky is a Neighborhood,” “Learn to Fly,” “Arlandria,” “These Days,” “Shame Shame,” “All My Life,” “Nothing at All,” “The Glass,” “Monkey Wrench,” “Aurora,” “Best of You,” “The Teacher,” and “Everlong” (and it was at that moment, watching my son skip off hand and hand with his girlfriend to be up close, that I knew every minute of this festival was worth it).

Day 4:

By the fourth and final day (coincidentally, Mother’s Day), I was ready for a long reprieve to say the least. But we soldiered on as true warriors of rock (because what else can we do?), and made it in time for former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach’s set. The first time I had ever seen Bach all the way back in 2006, my son was only about six months old at the time. So to finally have him share in on these songs like “18 & Life” some eighteen years later, was an especially cool moment for me as a father (ironically Bach’s son is now behind the drums in his father’s band much like Soulfly, too).

Opening “Bachville” (as he so dubbed it himself) with his latest track “What Have I Got to Lose?,” he quickly belted out the classics with “Slave to the Grind” (which found Bach and company briefly segwaying into Rush’s “Tom Sawyer,” too), “Here I Am,” “18 & Life,” “Monkey Business,” “I Remember You,” and “Youth Gone Wild.”

A couple more on my son’s list of bands to see, Wage War and Enter Shikari, were up next before we made it over to see one of the very first bands I ever saw at a music festival (at the 1997 Ozzfest), Fear Factory. A lot has unfortunately changed within their personal too since then though, but it was still a blast from the past to hear the likes of “Demanufacture” again. The next act (Atreyu) was another one I’ve seen several times in the past (most recently in 2010), but due to numerous inner changes their music just doesn’t hit the same anymore as it once did (songs like “Right Side of the Bed” and “Ex’s and Oh’s” just don’t have the same effect without ex-singer Alex Varkatzas screaming on them).

Sum 41 rock Daytona for possibly their last time ever on 5/12/24 as part of their final tour (Photo by Jesse Striewski).

About one or two songs each (about all that was needed) for Breaking Benjamin and Black Veil Brides followed before catching Sum 41 for their “final” tour. Another band I caught once upon a time at my first Vans Warped Tour back in 2001 (then once more in 2009, ironically with The Offspring), it may have been somewhat tolerable hearing tracks like “Motivation” and “The Hell Song” live one more time had it not been for the hordes of people clamoring to catch one last glimpse of them.

And then there’s Evanescence, a band I once saw at the height of their prime back in 2004, and another band that has gone through their own share of changes since then. But one thing is for certain, the voice of lead singer Amy Lee has not changed one bit, and is as strong as ever on tracks like “Going Under,” “Better Without You,” “Call Me When You’re Sober,” “Imaginary,” “Use My Voice,” and “Bring Me to Life” (their closer, which sounded odd this time without the “rapping” segment actually done right this time).

Amy Lee and Evanescence perform on the final night of Rockville on Sunday, 5/12/24 (Photo By Jacob Striewski).

By the time Slipknot hit the stage (this time wearing “throwback” masks from the late ’90s), I was ready to call it a night/weekend/all of the above. “(515),” “People = Shit,” “Eyeless,” “Disasterpiece,” “Custer,” and “Psychosocial” were more than enough to hear before doing just that, finally. I can’t say for certain whether or not this might be my last major music festival like this (this old man is definitely starting to feel his age for sure), but should it be, I’d say it was a high enough note to go out on.

Interview with Firefall Guitarist Jock Bartley By Jesse Striewski/Photo By Tom Apathy

Sometimes, projects will present themselves across my desk that are hard to say “no” to, and it almost always turns out for the better when I do agree to say “yes,” no matter who the artist may be. A perfect example; Firefall guitarist and co-founder Jock Bartley, who, thanks to the assistance of an old “friend” of the Rewind It fam, the opportunity to pick Bartley’s brain recently presented itself, and turned out to be another eye-opening experience that I’m glad to have jumped on.

First and foremost I was curious what was in store for him and Firefall in 2024. He informed me; “Firefall are in the process of making our new album Friends & Family 2 right now – it’ll most likely be released by May of 2024. The first Friends & Family album was released in early 2023 and had an amazing ‘concept’. Many of the original FF members – Mark Andes, Michael Clarke, Rick Roberts & I – played in other famous bands of the day: The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Spirit, JoJo Gunne, Heart, Dan Fogelberg, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, etc. And secondly, Firefall toured a lot (and got to be friends with) many top groups in 1976 after our first album hit real big – Doobie Bros., Fleetwood Mac, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker, Loggins & Messina, etc. So the Friends & Family album was our band lovingly and respectfully re-creating songs by all those other famous band It got quite a bit of attention in 2023 and consequently, we decided to record a follow-up album for 2024. Same concept, playing great songs by other great bands we either toured with or we’re ‘in’ for a spell. It’s a new group of songs we compiled originally by Fleetwood Mac, The Beach Boys, America, Kenny Loggins and others. I’m in the studio this week finishing solos and vocals on a few of those new songs. It’s exciting to be doing this!!!”

He then added; “And as for touring in 2024 – We will be doing a 6-day ’70s Rock & Romance Cruise’ again in the Caribbean in March 2024 with 12-15 other famous bands. And playing a big number of co-headlining and headlining concerts across the U.S.A.”

I asked how he felt said latest release was received, and he told me; “Well, we got quite a lot of interviews and press on Friends & Family which was really fantastic since FF, other than touring a lot, has been out of the public consciousness with any of our newer recordings. But we made a few entertainment waves. We didn’t get much “radio” airplay, which was not a surprise (getting a song on any radio stations is a very tough proposition these days, much harder than back in the ‘70s when good songs could get played without being on a corporate playlist). But the album was VERY well received and got many fantastic reviews nationwide and even worldwide. Those positive reviews made me personally, as producer/band leader/lead guitarist, feel satisfied and thankful. Many of them said that our versions of those songs by other artists were “true” to the original band’s versions, recorded with respect and love for those songs (and the ’70s music they belonged to), and that those ‘cover songs’ still sounded like Firefall music and how great our band’s songs have been on record. And I was congratulated by some to have kept the guitar solos on our new versions, true and very reminiscent of the original soloists. On a few songs like Fogelberg’s ‘Part Of The Plan’ or Spirit’s “I Got A Line On You’, I pretty much learned and played verbatim Dan’s or Randy California’s original signature solos like they originally played them – that’s what those solos needed to be (and as you may already know, I asked Howard Lesse of Heart and Badfinger if he would play the solo on ‘What About Love’, the Heart song we covered). On other songs like Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” or Marshall Tucker’s “Can’t You See,” I just played guitar solos ‘reminiscent’ of those great solos played by the Skynyrd boys or Toy Caldwell. Friends & Family was a labor of love (and respect for that great music of the ’70s that Firefall played a small but vibrant role in). We’re lucky in that sense, to have toured with many of those bands and had saturation radio airplay of our own FF songs in the ‘70s, written by Rick Roberts and Larry Burnett.”

I also wanted to know of all the tracks on Friends & Family, if he had a favorite. He replied; “Tough question! The one song that still stands out as the perfect song to have chosen, and the perfect re-imagining and ‘alteration’ of the original tune I think is “Angry Eyes” by Loggins & Messina; that song is so like FF and what we sound like to start with; it was a natural selection (where other song choices like Heart and the Doobies were quite difficult). The original L&M version is probably about eight minutes long with long 1970’s segways of solos and instrumentation – I had to really try to capture the essence of the sax solo and guitar solos, while at the same time, pairing the arrangement down pretty significantly. Other favorites of mine are: “Part of the Plan” by Dan Fogelberg; just because we kept right to the original script of his recording and ours’ is energetic and fun, and sounds just right. My other fav is “What About Love” by Heart. That was a tough selection; what song by the Wilson sisters should we do??!! Yikes. New FF Lead singer John Bisaha said he could sing the hell out of ‘What About Love’ and bingo!! As it turns out, we deliberately made the intro sound like our hit “Strange Way” from 1978 and also kept that in mind on the acoustic guitars on the verses. And both John And I are good friends with Howard Lesse from Heart – who played the original great solo on the Heart version – and taking his solo, I learned it and played in unison with my lead guitar sound, so there are two of Howards solo tracks and one of mine (all playing his same unison melodic solo), and we ended up with a very striking and unique guitar solo on ‘our’ version.

With decades worth of memories in the music industry as a member of Firefall, I was curious to know what some of his favorite actually were. He enlightened me; “There are a few of those songs with great memories attached to them for me; “Chest Fever” by The Band makes me remember opening dozens of shows for that great group in 1976, one of America’s greatest ever musical groups. And all those times after FF had played our opening act set, I sat behind the curtain and watched close-up the amazing Levon Helm play drums and sing, and Garth Hudson weave his magical keyboard parts. And of course Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson, and Richard Manuel – they were my heroes!!! And also of course ‘Feel A Whole Lot Better’ by The Byrds has a special place in my heart. Not only did Byrds drummer Michael Clarke play drums for Firefall, but bassist Chris Hillman contributed quite a lot to our band’s inception and sound. Chris produced our 3-song demo tape (paid for by Warner Bros) that would lead to getting our record deal with Atlantic. And that Byrds songs (to me) was one of their best, written by the late great Gene Clark. The Byrds were/are at the center of Firefall’s ‘Family Tree’!!”

I asked if he’d elaborate a little on how all of the original members initially got involved, and he further explained; “Cool story!! It’s an example of the inter-meshing, intertwining and ’synergy’ of so many musicians and bands back in the 1960s and ’70s!! Gram Parsons joined the rock and roll Byrds and took them for one album in a very ‘country’ direction. Soon-thereafter, Gram quit the Byrds, and Byrds’ bassist Chris Hillman joined Gram in forming the Flying Burrito Bros. That core of L.A. musicians (in addition to The Buffalo Springfield & later Poco) pretty much invented the new genre of music at the time, ‘country’ rock (Rick Nelson and Michael Nesmith were in that ‘country rock’ musical experimentation in Los Angeles, too). When Gram Parsons quit the Flying Burrito Bros., Chris Hillman hired ‘new kid in L.A.’ Rick Roberts to replace GP. They made records together and toured the U.S. and Europe. While in Washington DC, after a Burrito Bros concert at the Cellar Door, Rick Roberts went to a club to hear local folksinger Emmylou Harris, she was amazing and Rick called Chris to come down and hear this phenomenal singer, which he did. They ‘ discovered’ Emmylou Harris and Chris called his friend Gram in L.A., and Chris quit the Burritos. For me – to have fallen into Gram & Emmylou’s band, The Fallen Angels, was a stroke of pure luck and ‘being at the right place at the right time’. On the road with Gram & Emmylou, in NYC Rick Roberts came to hear us and I met him at that show. We discovered we both lived in Boulder, Colo. and vowed to get together to jam. Rick thought he’d be making his third solo album on A&M Records, but when bassist Mark Andes joined our jam sessions, it felt like a BAND!!! Rick flew singer/songwriter Larry Burnett out to Boulder, and in that first week of rehearsals, we had 20-25 original songs by Rick and Larry to work out, WOW! Unheard of. Then Michael Clarke joined the band and we were set (Keyboard/sax/flute player David Muse joined the band to make our first album too). That’s the origins of Firefall.”

With the band’s 1976 hit “You Are The Woman” remaining their most popular to date, I asked if the track was ever a hindrance at all for the band. He stated; “Funny you should ask that! That question is a double-edged sword. A huge positive and a minor restricting ‘negative.’ On the one side, having a song as big a hit as “You Are The Woman” was and is fantastic and has kept the band working for 30 years – it got to be #1 on the Easy Listening charts!!! Top Ten on the regular charts in 1976. On the other side of it though, that song is kind of white bread pop music and isn’t a ‘rock’ song (like the band is really a ‘rock’ band), and has been somewhat of a ‘hindrance,’ with potential fans and the music industry thinking that Firefall is simply a light poppy band with a few big hit love ballads. But we’re a diverse rock band with ‘folk rock’ and ‘country rock’ roots, and our material (which gave us two platinum and three gold records) with a wide range of ’styles’ and impacts. We go a lot deeper than that, and unfortunately lots of people don’t know that. I thank my lucky starts to have “You Are the Woman” and “Just Remember I Love You” be as big as hit songs as they were/are. But the band has much wider range than those love ballads and can hold our own on stage on a bill with the likes of 38 Special, Doobies & REO Speedwagon!

And lastly, with original bassist Mark Andes having recently retired in 2022, I asked what it was like not having him by his side on stage any more. He told me; “Mark’s a few years older than I am, he totally got fed up with the physical grind of touring – airports, long drives, hotels, etc. I get that. The only ‘fun’ part of being on the road now is the GIG itself, being on stage for 45 or 90 minutes, everything else is a physical, mental and psychic DRAIN. So I get it. And the band greatly misses Mark’s amazing and unique bass playing on stage and in the studio. Mark Andes is one of the best bassists on the planet – he’s been in rock star bands in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and beyond – over five decades! But he wanted to be done with it all. And because Mark left the band, I suddenly was forced into finding a bassist who could sing high vocals (or maybe have Steve Weinmeister move over to bass and then find a second lead guitarist who could sing high). Then all of a sudden John Bisaha, lead vocalist and bassist for The Babys, became available. First time I heard him sing a lead vocal, I was astounded by how great a singer he was!!! And he was a very good bassist too. Fortunately The Babys weren’t touring much or recording at all…and it became a perfect fit for John. Having John Bisaha and Steven Weinmeister be the two lead vocalists now in Firefall, who sounded fantastic on our new 2023 album Friends & Family and currently making a F&F2 album featuring their lead vocals – is amazing, fantastic, the best lead vocal pairing FF’s had since the ’70s. Steve and John have become best of friends and – Voila! – Firefall vocals are as good if not better than they’ve ever been live AND in the studio since the 1970s heyday of the band (and as third lead singer in the ‘vocal blend’ and producer of these albums, I’m in high heaven working with these two!). They can sing anything, high or low, tough or tender. Here comes Firefall’s Friends & Family 2 album in mid-2024!!!