The story behind the song: Hocus Pocus by Focus By Dave Ling The bizarre Hocus Pocus by Dutch proggers Focus “came from nowhere, a piece of pure improvisation” and may be the only top 20 rock song to feature yodelling
Iron Maiden: a track-by-track guide to the debut album that reinvented heavy metal By Dave Ling A track-by-track guide to Iron Maiden's debut album. Released in 1980, it changed hard rock forever and helped kickstart the 80s
Asia: the story of a supergroup By Dave Ling Despite being pilloried buy the press at the time, Asia's blend of polished melodies and progressive ideals reaped huge commercial rewards
Paul Stanley interview: soul, loneliness, and why Download will be mind-boggling By Dave Ling Kiss legend Paul Stanley on his new soul album, deafness, feelings of inadequacy and loneliness, and Kiss playing Download 2022
The 38 best Rolling Stones songs, as chosen by 57 different musicians By Dave Ling, Dave Everley, Polly Glass, Philip Wilding The very best Rolling Stones tracks, as chosen by those best qualified to judge: their fellow musicians
How Big Big Train broke through with The Underfall Yard By Dave Ling The inside story of Big Big Train's 2009 album The Underfall Yard, their first with singer David Longdon and drummer Nick D'Virgilio
Bees, ballads, Michael Bolton, and the heroically overblown return of Touch By Dave Ling While the return of American band Touch will be a delight for AOR fans, it’s also likely to see the return of people re-telling a 40-year-old story that the band wish would just fly away
Touch's comeback album Tomorrow Never Comes will exhaust your supply of air keyboards By Dave Ling Long-lost US pomp-rockers Touch scratch their 41-year-old itch with Tomorrow Never Comes
Francis Rossi interview: Status Quo, lockdown, and getting back out on the road By Dave Ling Status Quo's Francis Rossi joins us to talk us through what he learned in lockdown, what we can expect from his upcoming tour, and whether Taylor Swift might ever cover one of his songs
Get ready for the Get Ready: what Damon Johnson did next By Dave Ling Former Black Stone Riders and Thin Lizzy guitarist Damon Johnson has finally found his niche. And it includes licking lots of stamps
“We were bored of doing things the same old way". How Rush made Signals By Dave Ling After the massive success of Moving Pictures, Rush had the world at their feet. So the ever-contrary Canadians turned to new technology for 1982's Signals...
Liquid Tension Experiment - LTE3 Review By Dave Ling Not yet rated The gang’s back together: Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess and Tony Levin reunite the dream team for LTE’s first new album of instrumental prog genius in 22 years.
Eric Bloom: The Soundtrack of my Life By Dave Ling Blue Oyster Cult frontman Eric Bloom picks his records, artists and gigs of lasting significance, and reveals why he won't have (Don't Fear) The Reaper played at his funeral
Smith/Kotzen: putting two guitarists together in a studio can be dangerous By Dave Ling Interview: Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith and the Winery Dogs’ Richie Kotzen on how their Smith/Kotzen album was made
Six things you need to know about Cats In Space By Dave Ling Melodic rockers Cats In Space embrace the 70s, are wary of the ‘business’, and reckon there are lots of potential fans out there
Accept’s Wolf Hoffmann: “I’ve never even smoked a joint” By Dave Ling What’s it like being a member of Germany’s third most famous metal band? Accept guitarist Wolf Hoffmann has the answers…
It Bites and the making of Once Around The World By Dave Ling “We just wanted to play 20-minute long songs and smoke pot,” admits Francis Dunnery as he and John Beck recall the making of It Bites second album Once Around The World
Ken Hensley struggles to soar on posthumous album My Book Of Answers By Dave Ling My Book Of Answers finds former Uriah Heep keyboard player Ken Hensley signing off with well-meaning curiosity
The cursed career of Stray: sometimes, nice guys finish last By Dave Ling Managed by gangsters and plagued by poor record deals, bad luck cursed the career of Stray, once peers to the likes of Judas Priest and UFO
Mason Hill’s Against The Wall: arena-ready rock that proves the power of peristence By Dave Ling Scottish rockers Mason Hill finally release their assured debut album. Fans of Alter Bridge and Shinedown apply here
Evergrey’s Escape Of The Phoenix: soaring anthems from prog metal’s most underrated band By Dave Ling Prog metal lifers Evergrey show their class with soaring 11th album Escape Of The Phoenix
Dream Theater’s John Petrucci: “ We hear some bands and go, ‘We created a Frankenstein’s monster!’” By Dave Ling Up close and personal with Dream Theater guitarist and beard grooming aficionado John Petrucci
Introducing The Byson Family: what Phil Campbell did next By Dave Ling Former Temperance Movement frontman Phil Campbell tells talks about his departure, and introduces new band the Byson Family
Mark Kelly interview: from Marillion to Marathon and beyond By Dave Ling Marillion keyboard player Mark Kelly talks his new record with Marathon, lockdown, and former bandmate Fish’s album Weltschmerz
