Growin' Up Rock

Stryper has been a Growin' Up Rock part of my life since they released the Yellow and Black Attack back in 1984. Singer and lead guitarist Michael Sweet is an amazing singer and we feel criminally underrated as a guitar player, so it is an honor to have him sit in with us on today's podcast. We talk to Michael about some of his earliest memories and influences, and we get into Stryper's latest rel...

The Indy Kiss Konfessionals Day Two. - We're halfway there people!! Find out what happens when you have the Expo to end all Expos dedicated to the greatest Rock n Roll band on earth KISS. The 20th anniversary Indy Kiss Expo was celebrated in rock star fashion this month with a special guest list that was 2nd to none in Kiss World. In fact it seemed like just about everyone except Gene and Paul wer...

The Indy Kiss Konfessionals Day One. - It's gonna be a long weekend people!! Find out what happens when you have the Expo to end all Expos dedicated to the greatest Rock n Roll band on earth -  KISS. The 20th anniversary Indy Kiss Expo was celebrated in rock star fashion this month, with a special guest list that was 2nd to none in Kiss World. In fact it seemed like just about everyone except Gene...

What's it all about? It's about Life, Love, & Rock n Roll. At least that's what Sonny and I think. On this episode we find out how a band called Granny 4 Barrel made so much noise and a lasting impression after I showed up late and completely missed their live set. We discuss the upcoming summer concert series. I tell you all about playing hooky on a school night in order to rock n roll my way thr...

Whitesnake's guitarist, Joel Hoekstra is the perfect portrait of what today’s guitar god looks like. The man comes across as humble with true personal values, but on stage just enough attitude and swagger that draws you in, and has you standing on your chair with your fist raised high above your head. Oh, and we can’t forget the most important trait in a guitar hero. You must be able to wield your...

It’s time for another episode of This Ain’t No Disco, and this year we are talking and rocking all things happening in 1989. Rock n Pod 2 VIP contributor Jason Kearney joins Steven and Hollywood for another episode of "This Ain’t No Disco".  Jason picked the year 1989 to feature some great albums released and pick several great tracks to play. We talk to Jason about why ‘89 meant so much to him wh...

The Indy Kiss Expo is coming up fast and furious and the Growin' Up Rock Podcast will be on site and recording all the festivities. This will be the Kiss Expo to end all Kiss Expos with this crazy lineup of guest. Pretty much everyone except Paul and Gene will be in attendance and we got you covered. Hollywood and I decided to put together a little bonus episode of the Podcast to run down all the...

The amazing and super talented Grammy award winning guitarist Steve Stevens is interviewed  on this episode of the Growin' Up Rock Podcast. Long time Billy Idol guitarist and songwriter Steve Stevens was gracious enough to spend time with me and tell me some of his rock n roll story. In this interview we cover a massive amount of ground in Steve's career starting with his youth and growing up in N...

We Love Prince and we like it heavy, so we want to celebrate the rock n roll side of his music on this 2nd anniversary of his passing. Legends never die.  “I never meant to cause use any sorrow, I never meant to cause you any pain…”  Whether Prince was preaching to the crowd, telling a personal story or encouraging everyone to get funky, the messages were loud and clear.  Although he is no longer...

Loverboy  lead guitarist Paul Dean is a rare breed in a rock band. He’s loyal to almost a fault, and in a world dominated by Guitar Gods, his ego is checked at the door while focusing on writing music not to suit his own stature, but rather put his lead singer Mike Reno in the best possible situation to use what Paul says is “one of the best rock voices in history” Formed in Calgary in 1979, Lover...

Texas Hippie Coalition. Formed in Denison, Texas by vocalist Big Dad Ritch and former bass player John Exall, the band plays a brand of music they they call "Red Dirt Metal". Imagine if you will, that bands could get together and have a Rock n Roll Love Child. Figuratively speaking if ZZ Top, and Pantera were to get together they would have for sure bred something sounding a lot like Texas Hippie...

What Cha' Listening to right now? We love to hear from the listeners about what music is floating their boat currently old or new. We encourage you to go to our Facebook page and share it. Sonny and Steven went the extra mile for people and decided to give the listeners a bonus episode, We sit down, drink a little wine, and share some music that is new and a little that is older that has them pres...

Ever wanted a good girl gone bad? A wild woman? A sexy temptress? The girl next door, who is much more than you fantasized about? A girl gone bad is what every red blooded male secretly wants. We ALL love a bad girl.......at least for a little while. We here at Growin' Up Rock, are not a whole lot different. In our youth, we were drawn to rock n roll and hard rock in particular because it was a li...

On this Episode of Growin' Up Rock, Sonny and Steven are Talking Rock with Talking Metal's main man Mark Strigl. You think you know a few things about Talking Metal and about Mark Strigl, but you have no idea. The fellas have a great time digging into Mark's Growin' Up Rock past and talking all things music. Mark has been doing a rock podcast since 2005, and In fact when Mark started, you could co...

Hey Ma!!, I'm going solo. In what could very well become a on-going series for Growin' Up Rock down the road, Steven, Hollywood, along with very special guest Joe Polo from Podcast Rock City join forces to discuss several artist who have left or taken a break from the Mothership bands that helped create their famous status in the first place, to go solo or join forces with other artist in a new ve...

It's time to spin the Growin' Up Rock cell phone roulette wheel of rock n roll. Steve and Hollywood, pull out their personal cell phones and let the shuffle button dictate exactly what music is going to be played on the show this evening. Have no fear, they have made sure specific for this episode that their massive and diverse libraries have been segregated to only include killer rock n roll musi...

Klassik ‘78 is a sonic trip back to your bedroom circa 1978, with your Kiss records on the turntable cranked up , distorting the cheap speakers ever so slightly in order to shake the walls while your parental units were away. Steve and Sonny are back with another interview with Klassik ‘78 (Steve interviewed K78 mastermind Tom in EP 2 - Listen to it Here). This time around the guys interview Joe (...

Enuff Z' Nuff is a band from the late 80s formed in Chicago by current bass player and vocalist Chip Z' Nuff and former vocalist Donnie Vie, that in my opinion never got a fair shake. They may or may not have contributed to their own trials and tribulations through sex, drugs, alcohol, and bad decisions, but no matter the issues and who was to blame, the bottom line was they wrote freaking great s...

Super group Sons Of Apollo vocalist Jeff Scott Soto has embraced his artistry and explored many genres of  music that make him happy. Being able to be creative in so many different genres of music has not only made Jeff a go to singer by many artist and producers, but it shows just how well rounded a musician Jeff Scott Soto has become. He  might of gone on to be the permanent replacement singer f...

It's time to finish up our coverage of the 2018 Atlanta Kiss Expo with this epic marathon episode of the Kiss Expo Konfessionals Pt. 2. This is the next best thing to actually being there, as we recorded live at the expo, sitting down with Kiss fans, special guest, and fellow podcasters to get their take on the expo and talk to them about their Kiss and Vinnie Vincent Obsession. Along the way we p...

The 2018 Atlanta Kiss Expo is over now, and what a glorious time we had. Catching up with old friends and making a whole lot of new ones. Growin' Up Rock was there for every moment of this Rock N Roll congregation coming together to "Shout It Out Loud" at the top of their lungs"They Love Kiss" and they will not apologize for "Rock N Rolling Everyday and Partying Every Night." Find out what happene...

The 2018 Atlanta Kiss Expo is over now, and what a glorious time we had. Catching up with old friends and making a whole lot of new ones. Growin' Up Rock was there for every moment of this Rock N Roll congregation coming together to "Shout It Out Loud" at the top of their lungs"They Love Kiss" and they will not apologize for "Rock N Rolling Everyday and Partying Every Night." Find out what happene...

Happy New Year from all of us here at Growin' Up Rock. It’s a new day, a new week, and a new year and one thing is for sure, time keeps on slippin' into the future. Yep, sounds like a song. In this episode, Steven and Hollywood, wish everyone a Happy New Year, and talk about some killer tunes from Kiss, Halestorm, Van Halen, Warrant, Y&T, and Black Label Society that either come from an album with...

The Atlanta Kiss Expo is upon us, and we could not be more stoked. This marks the return of Vinnie Vincent among other very cool Kiss related guest and vendors. Growin' Up Rock will be set up and covering all the action which we will be sharing in upcoming episodes in February. Tonight Steven and Sonny spent a short time in this bonus episode to catch up with Andrea (Aka Jean Simone - The Goddess...

Bob Kulick is an amazing guitar player and Grammy Award winning producer who has played and written with artist like Kiss, W.A.S.P., Diana Ross, Meatloaf, Patti Labelle, and Michael Bolton just to name a few.   Steven & Sonny interview Bob to discuss his earliest musical memories. We also get into the recording of his newest record “Skeletons In The Closet”. (You can check out Hollywood’s album re...