Kings of Thrash 2023 – Metal Masters and Upstart Talent – So Far, So Good…So Epic
A freshman in college in 1990, I came up through what some might call the golden era of thrash metal. The ’80s saw iconic albums from Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, and so many more – all coming to prominence with big arena shows right around the time I graduated high school in 1990. I […]
2022 Parabellum Tour – Metal Collective of the Year Shreds NoVA
As U.K. comedian Russell Howard wisely said in his documentary on what it was like to be an arena-level entertainer during a pandemic – locked down, with little to do but be frustrated and write new material – there’s a “golden age of entertainment” coming. The U.K. was particularly isolationist, and he predicted a pent-up […]
Ada Shows us “Hope”
Ada Pasternak; a confident, consummate professional, a true performance artist with a highly credible, exceptional background in classical and popular music, and a Berklee gem. I first found her music, and in fact last reviewed her work, in 2013, just after she joined our Fish Pond family. These were the days of the quirky “Lonely […]
Christian Lopez Comes Home to Creek’s Edge
It was a delight to catch Christian Lopez, making a rare appearance near his home of Morgantown, West Virginia, on Sunday 21st June, at Creek’s Edge Winery in Lovettsville, VA. It goes without saying that Christian’s music touches me; I have admired his writing, and loved his performances since first seeing him play in Winchester, […]
Bright Box Lit Up with Fish Pond Greats
When I first heard that Gallows Bound and Mike Frazier & the Dying Wild – both early members of our Fish Pond musicians family – were playing their hometown, sharing a stage, I couldn’t have been happier. Two totally different yet complementary styles, Gallows Bound describe themselves as “a six piece Appalachian folk-punk/bluegrass outfit”, while Mike […]
Associations – Associations II
Associations is the debut musical brainchild of Shane Conard. My introduction to Shane was by way of Fish Pond original Mike Frazier, my long time buddy and compadre pop punk musician, and so it immediately holds some cred for me. Mike has seen it, played it, done it, thrashed the tour circuit over the last few years, […]
Fish Pond Gold Series: Auguster – Rough Summer
Jimmy Marino has been a member of our Fish Pond family since 2012. I remember the first time I heard ‘Bridges’ by the young Berklee freshman back then, and I heard something new, something Southern California, something exciting about his voice and his writing. Simply put, he managed to hawk up and spit out years […]
Fish Pond Gold Series: Vincent Corver – Why
We welcomed Qatar-based Vincent Corver to our Fish Pond family of musicians in March 2015. A talented composer with multiple awards to his name, he is highly qualified and respected in his field. His 2014 work “Why”, produced by Nyk Schmalz, is a study in what Vincent would call “Key-Precision Progressive Music”; it’s the art […]
Fish Pond Gold Series: Mikey Frazier – Virginia Son
I’ve known Mikey Frazier for years; when I first had the idea to form a community of musicians called the Fish Pond back in late 2010, it was while em-ceeing a battle of the bands at Sherando High School, Stephens City, Virginia. Mikey’s band, Random Holiday, together with Kyle Grim, Noah Mullinax, and Jake White, […]
