Thriving Rockstar

This episode is with Coby Linder. Coby is the former drummer of the rock band Say Anything.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois and at the age of 7 moved to Los Angeles where he began playing drums and helped start the band when he was 14.  He left the band in 2013 to pursue a career as an Online Health Coach. He is Jewish and Vegan. Coby now lives in Dallas, TX with his fiancé Tracy and helps people all over the world achieve their health and fitness goals. Enjoy this interview with Coby Linder!

This episode is with Chrism. Christian “Chrism” Pulkkinen is a progressive metal keyboardist, audio/video engineer and producer with Dark Noise Productions, a company that he founded. In addition to his expertise in composing, recording, and producing music, he is also a marketing and music industry professional. Chrism plays and produces several projects including Simulacrum, Epicrenel, Adamantra, and the recently disbanded Eden’s Curse. Enjoy this interview with Chrism!

This episode is with Lorelei McBroom. Lorelei McBroom was born in LA and grew up with folk, rock 'n roll, pop, jazz, and soul music. Her family was progressive in their approach to her upbringing. She has worked with acts like Billy Idol, Chris Isaak, Miki Howard and Rod Stewart. In addition, she has toured with Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones. Her credits include a long list of A list musicians, as well as appearing at the 1988 Grammy Awards. Aside from her prolific singing career, Lorelei has a jewelry brand and is deeply involved on the production end of the music business. Enjoy this interview with Lorelei McBroom!

This episode is with Amelia Rosenberger. Amelia is a trombonist and yoga teacher based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She has dedicated her career to helping musicians relieve tension, pain, and performance anxiety through the practice of yoga. She believes that it is important that musicians take care of both their bodies and minds in order to create sustainable careers. She has taught her Yoga for Trombone workshop at universities including Northwestern University, DePaul University, and the University of Texas at Arlington. In addition to her yoga teaching, Amelia is an accomplished trombonist. She won the American Trombone Workshop Division II National Solo Competition in 2015 among several others. Amelia is currently a graduate trombone student at the University of Texas at Arlington studying with Dennis Bubert, and teaches a weekly Yoga for Musicians class to her peers. Enjoy this interview with Amelia Rosenberger!

This episode is with Ray Hearne. Ray is quickly being recognized as one of the premier drummers in progressive metal playing with Haken. Formed in 2007, Haken has steadily grown to become a globally touring act and a household name for progressive metal fans worldwide. Aside from playing and teaching drums, Ray is also a professional classical tuba player and recently a big collector of hot sauces! Infinite Spectrum got to play with Haken back in 2015 at Webster Hall in New York City. Thats where we first got to hang out and I’m proud of what they have accomplished since! Enjoy this interview with Ray Hearne!

This episode is with Ryan Van Poederooyen. Ryan, also known as RVP, is a world-class drummer, best known for his work with Devin Townsend. Among other things, Ryan is an educator and motivational speaker who inspires people to live a life of purpose and happiness. RVP has been recognized globally for his excellent musicianship in major magazines such as Modern Drummer, Rhythm, and others. His accolades and endorsements are too many to list here. Recently Ryan formed Imonolith with Brian Waddell of Devin Townsend’s Project and has been the primary businessman in the band. We met at NAMM this year and I knew he would be a great guest on the show! Enjoy this interview with Ryan Van Poederooyen!

This episode is with Mats Haugen. Mats is the guitarist and one of the founding members of Circus Maximus, an international progressive metal sensation around for almost 20 years. Aside from the band. Mats is based in Oslo, where he is constantly occupied—playing with some of the top rock, pop and hip-hop artists in Norway.  Enjoy this interview with Mats Haugen!

Steve Soboslai is a Pittsburgh based singer-songwriter and audio engineer. He is a founding member of the rock band Punchline, who got their start on a record label called Fueled By Ramen. He also performs solo under the moniker Blue of Colors. Over the years, Punchline toured internationally with bands like Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Less Than Jake, Bayside, Bowling For Soup, and Reel Big Fish. In 2012, Punchline recorded an EP in Los Angeles called "So Nice To Meet You", which peaked at #1 on the iTunes Rock charts. Steve has more recently started a marketing company called Craft Services which had stemmed out of Punchline having their own Kickstarter campaign and wanting to help others with similar efforts and more. Enjoy this interview with Steve Soboslai!

This episode is with Ben Cohen. Ben plays guitar for Video Game Metal band Powerglove, as well as modern progressive metal band Lattermath.  Powerglove tours the US and Canada regularly with bands such as Dragonforce, Symphony X, and Sonata Arctica. They’ve played on the Summer Slaughter Tour, appeared at video game, anime and comic conventions and recently appeared on the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise. Ben is a Berklee College of Music alumnus and is currently based in Los Angeles, where he also does session work and gigs.  As an educator, Ben has taught lessons, clinics, and rock band classes for over 17 years. Enjoy this interview with Ben Cohen!

This episode is with Sahil Makhija. Sahil is a guitar and front man of Demonic Resurrection, better known currently as the host and chef of Headbanger’s Kitchen which has 350,000+ subscribers at the time of this recording. His show mostly features him cooking food for the keto diet while having metal music on in the background. His recipes are very wide ranging. Sahil had gone through many phases. Some of these include cooking, marketing, audio engineering and computer science. Sahil was a very special guest. We connected back in the fall of 2018 and it was great to catch up and speak about diet, music, and doing what it takes to keep the dream alive! Enjoy this interview with Sahil Makhija!

This episode is with Matthew Dylan Diana. Matt is the singer of Message to the Mass with Artery Recordings as well as a solo artist. He also runs a meal prep company and maintains an impressive sculpted physique even when touring extensively. During our conversation together, Matt gave some great insight into how he not only stays healthy and fit while touring, but even saves money while he is at it! Enjoy this interview with Matthew Dylan Diana!

This episode is with Rusty Cooley. Rusty has achieved what most guitarists strive for, unbounded speed. In fact Rusty is one of the fastest guitarists alive! He was an early adopter of the internet and was one of the first guitarists to make a name for himself through the new medium with his Chops From Hell instructional videos.  This is my longest interview to date! Rusty was an incredible guest and he really went into detail to give us an in-depth view on how he operates! Enjoy this interview with Rusty Cooley!

Leslie is an extraordinary singer and performer who has reached the semi-finals of American Idol, beating out over 100,000 contestants and repeatedly performing for millions on live TV. She has her own record label, several solo albums with star artists, and for the past decade she has been the singer of a progressive rock band called District 97. I met Leslie when my band, Infinite Spectrum, performed with District 97 at Progtoberfest in Chicago a few years back.  Our conversation was pretty far reaching. Leslie shared her approach to writing, and staying healthy, as well as struggles she has had with codependency, a very sickly childhood and the young death of her only sibling.  Enjoy this far reaching interview with Leslie Hunt!

This episode is with Casey Grillo. Casey is most known for being the drummer of Kamelot for most of their career. Recently he has been the touring drummer of Queensrych and has been running a successful boutique video drum head business with clients like Kiss, Jennifer Lopez, Eminem, and many others! He is also recording music for a video game. Aside from those things, we get into things like his views on productivity, diet, raising kids, internet trolls and more! Enjoy this episode with Casey Grillo!

Today’s guest is Neal Morse, a multi-instrumentalist prog rock composer and songwriter. I’ve been a fan of Neal for years… Neal is one of the more recognized artists within the modern progressive rock sphere. He first became known in prog through Spocks Beard, a band he formed in the 90’s with his brother, Alan. He then formed a supergroup named Transatlantic with Former Dream Theater co-founder Mike Portnoy, Flower Kings’ Roine Stolt, and Marillion’s Pete Trewavas. Portnoy also played on most of Neal’s other projects, including the latest one, The Neal Morse Band—In which Neal partners with Mike Portnoy on the drums, Randy George on the bass, Bill Hubauer on keys and Eric Gillette on Guitar. They just released their third record, The Great Adventure, a sequel to their previous “Similitude Of A Dream” which received much critical acclaim.   I got the pleasure chat with Neal on personal topics ranging from his relationship with his family and how he keeps up with them while touring, to how he maintains his hea