The Ugly American Werewolf in London Rock Podcast

Here on First Concert Memories, the monthly sidecast from your friends at The Ugly American Werewolf in London Rock Podcast, we endeavor to bring you stories from guests about the first time they saw a particular band and how that impacted their life. For FCM 9, we're joined by dear friend of the show Amanda Lehmann as she relates going to see Rainbow in 1980 as she was still a wee lass. Amanda ha...

Rush can be a very polarizing band. Even for those who "get it" there are eras that some fans disown or are slow to warm to. The 80s for Rush may be the most divisive period as everyone's favorite remaining power trio had seemed to turn in their heavy metal and progressive roots for synthesizers and shorter, more radio friendly tunes. After swaying perhaps too far into the techno-lands with 1982's...

Rudolf Schenker founded Scorpions as a teenager in Germany in 1965. With the British Invasion in full swing, he wanted to become a guitarist who wrote great songs, not a gunslinger ripping off the fastest licks he could. He built his repertoire over time and his band toured relentlessly to build an audience. By 1984, hard rock was all the rage and MTV ruled the world helping bands like Motley Crue...

Mel Gaynor is well respected around the world for his talents as a drummer. Besides being on the skins for Simple Minds as they took off to global superstardom, he has worked with legends like Elton John, Tina Turner, Lou Reed, Jackson Browne, Robert Palmer, Meat Loaf and many more. But Mel can do more than keep the beat and he's releasing his first solo album, Come With Me (out May 3rd), which sh...

Steve Hackett is not only a truly talented guitarist and songwriter but he's a bit of a workaholic. He rewards his fans by touring the world every year, releasing new material on a regular basis and live albums from the themed tours he's led. And though he's in the midst of his Foxtrot at 50 Tour (for which he's already released a live album) we're proud to welcome him back to The Ugly American We...

We at The Ugly American Werewolf in London Rock Podcast created our monthly sidecast, First Concert Memories, to give people a chance to share their passion for live music and how one particular rock show had a big impact on their life. FCM #8 is a glowing example of how a rock n roll show can regenerate and restore your passion for life after dark times. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Bria...

Listeners of the show know that the point of The Ugly American Werewolf in London Rock Podcast is to keep rock alive by sharing memories of bands, albums, live concerts and artist interviews. But the best way to indoctrinate the next generation away from the ubiquity of Taylor Swift is to take them to non-Taylor live shows. The Wolf Cub developed a love for the Toto classic Africa after The Wolf p...

After Pink Floyd delivered The Final Cut, the 1983 album which would be Roger Waters last with the band, David Gilmour found himself at an impasse. While he had some music ready for a new album as Roger had domineered the writing in Pink Floyd for the last 5+ years, he was unsure of the band's future. And since Roger was working on a solo concept album (The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking) David deci...

In 1994, your hosts found themselves finishing their junior year of college when it was announced that Pink Floyd were coming back with a new album, The Division Bell, and a huge tour to promote it. After watching the concert film Delicate Sound of Thunder from the previous tour, The Wolf made it his mission to see them live. And of course, our hosts picked up the album as soon as it came out. But...

The early 1970s were full of triumph and tragedy for Eric Clapton. The Guitar God who had bounced from band to band - The Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith - finally went solo with mixed results. However, in 1971 Clapton struck gold on both sides of the Atlantic with Layla and his buddies in Derek & the Dominos. However, friend and guitarist Duane Allman died tragically in...

We at The Wolf love the all-time classic British rock stars that helped found the movement of and continue to carry the torch of classic blues based rock n roll. We've spent countless hours (and dollars/pounds/euros/etc) to buy records, concert tickets, videos and books to learn more about the artists that brought rock music to the masses. This week, we speak with someone who'd met and/or worked w...

We conjured up First Concert Memories, our monthly sidecast to talk about the first time our guests saw a particular band, to share some passion about the rock n roll we all love. And Stephanie Myers is so passionate about Meat Loaf that she wears a necklace made of his guitar string. Host of the Songfacts Podcast and co-host of Stephanie & Stephanie Talk Tunes Podcast, she is a vivid storyteller...

KISS is one of the most legendary bands in the history of rock n roll. From their iconic makeup to their bombastic stage shows to the marketing and licensing of every product under the sun, KISS has been a part of popular culture for half a century. The self-titled debut album, KISS, didn't grab everyone's attention out of the gate, however. While they had some killer riffs supplied by original gu...

On UAWIL, we regularly talk about albums and bands that are big on one side of the Atlantic but for some reason never have great success on the other side of the pond. One glaring example is Simple Minds who have dozens of hits and many gold & platinum albums in the UK, Europe and around the world but never had huge success in the US. Most US fans know Don't You Forget About Me from The Breakfast...

The Pretenders broke out of London in 1979 and enjoyed success on both sides of the pond with hits like Brass in Pocket, Talk of the Town and Message of Love. But in 1982 the band were embroiled with problems from guitarist James Honeyman-Scott's deadly overdose to the sacking of bassist Pete Farndon due to drug use to Chrissie's pregnancy with Ray Davies and the dissolution of their relationship....

After rushing through their 5th album Diver Down, Van Halen wanted to return with an original album that would establish them as the preeminent hard rock band in the USA. Eddie Van Halen had completed his home 5150 studio which would allow him to develop ideas and work out the synthesizer sounds that he was experimenting with but which had also been shot down by lead singer David Lee Roth and prod...

On our 6th edition of our monthly sidecast, First Concert Memories, we welcome our friend Markus "The Darkus" Goldman from 93.3 WMMR in Philadelphia and The Imbalanced History of Rock n Roll Podcast to talk about an epic night in the history of rock music. On June 5, 1983, an up and coming back from Ireland had decided to film their concert at the Red Rock Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado just n...

Following up on last week's 2023 in Review Part 1: Albums, Authors & Podcasters, now we're focused on the concerts that we covered on the show (and the ones we didn't), the artists & legends we interviewed and reveal our Top 10 Ugly American Werewolf in London episodes of 2023. Thought The Wolf had to leave Amsterdam for his homeland early in 2023, he didn't sell all the concert tickets he bought....

2023 was quite a year for The Ugly American Werewolf in London Rock Podcast! We offered 52 episodes of the show, celebrated our 3 year anniversary, launched a new sidecast First Concert Memories, reviewed 32 albums, hosted 15 authors & podcasters, interviewed 8 artists & legends and reviewed 5 epic concerts from Europe and the USA. Plus your host, The Wolf, returned to America after 4 years away a...

Every year around the holidays, sometimes even before Thanksgiving these days, you start to hear them. The age old songs to ring in the season at the end of the year. I'm talking about Christmas songs - some of which are hundreds of years old and some have become popular in our lifetimes. In stores, in schools, in offices, in the air you'll be hearing songs in every language to celebrate. And rock...

King Crimson emerged from the UK in the late 60's with their debut album In The Court of the Crimson King, viewed by many as a prog rock masterpiece. However, right after the album was released, we saw the first of many defections from the band. Over half a century, some of the most proficient musicians on the planet have played with King Crimson, led all the while by the mercurial Robert Fripp. T...

We first met Christy Alexander Hallberg a couple of years ago while she was promoting her rock novel Searching for Jimmy Page. Since then we've become friends and she now hosts her own podcast, Rock Is Lit, about rock n roll fiction books. So we had to have her on First Concert Memories to talk about the first (and to this point, only) time she saw Jimmy play live when he teamed back up with Rober...

Growing up in the 1970s and 80s, one assumed that Paul McCartney was always universally loved because of his work in The Beatles, his 70s solo work and that with Wings, and his positive peace & love attitude. However, in 1973 Paul found himself in a bit of turmoil. Though he'd enjoyed some success as a solo artist, particularly in the US, Paul was being criticized for the adult contemporary nature...

Fans of our show know that The Wolf and Action Jackson have a special place in their hearts for 80s prog/pop rock band Asia. While we've spoken with keyboardist Geoff Downes (UAWIL 79) and drummer Carl Palmer (UAWIL 80), we never had the opportunity to speak with singer/bassist John Wetton as he passed away before we started our show. However, there have been many celebrations of John's life and w...

As Ozzy Osbourne's 3rd solo album Bark at the Moon turns 40, we look back on what was a very pivotal time in the life of Ozzy and his wife/manager Sharon. After the tragic death of Randy Rhoads, they soldiered on with Brad Gillis (Night Ranger) and bought some time with the live Speak of the Devil album. But Ozzy needed not only a new gunslinger to replace Rhoads virtuosity, he also needed a new w...