Interviews

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Mike Mettler  |  Apr 17, 2026

Are we ready for Record Store Day 2026 yet? This year’s big event starts bright and early tomorrow, Saturday, April 18, 2026, at 8 a.m. EST (give or take). See you there? In the meantime, AP editor Mike Mettler shares an exclusive RSD-oriented and vinyl-centric conversation with Romeo Void vocalist Debora Iyall about all the steps taken to ensure the band’s Live ’81-’85 2LP RSD release is up to our respective vinyl standards. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Mar 18, 2026

UK alt-pop stalwarts Squeeze have never quite followed the rules of disengagement, so when they unearthed a 52-year-old demo tape from 1974 featuring a nightclub-oriented song cycle penned by the band’s then-teenage songwriting duo — Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook — they actually found something worth salvaging. The 13 songs retrieved from the vaults were all given new life, and they now comprise the band’s just-released 16th studio album Trixies. AP editor Mike Mettler reviews one of the color variants, plus he talks with guitarist/vocalist Glenn Tilbrook about why he’s always loved vinyl, the art of sequencing, and how two of Squeeze’s most classic songs came together. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Oct 17, 2025

Steve Stevens isn’t one for sitting still. As you probably know, Stevens is the longtime guitar foil for iconoclast British alt-punk rocker Billy Idol, who released a killer new autobiographical LP earlier this year called Dream Into It. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s interview with Stevens to see why sequencing for vinyl is of utmost importance to both him and Idol, how he got that “bullet blast” for his solo on “Rebel Yell,” and why European progressive rock became one of his key influences. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Sep 10, 2025

For a British band with such a potentially foreboding name as The Darkness, their music is anything but grim. Instead, they choose to celebrate what we call a “tongue in chic” (spelling intended) wink/nudge approach to rock conventionalism by meeting all of it head on with layered riffs, clever arrangements, and operatic vocals galore — and their latest smokin’ hot LP, Dreams on Toast, is the living analog proof. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s interview with Darkness guitarist/producer Dan Hawkins to see what he doesn’t want to hear on test pressings, why “flow” is critical to vinyl sequencing, and what albums he and his older brother, Darkness lead singer Justin Hawkins, bought and shared together when they were growing up. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Aug 20, 2025

Bioscope is a thrilling ambient prog collaboration between Steve Rothery, co-founder of and guitarist for Britain’s perennial prog stalwarts Marillion, and Thorsten Quaeschning, musical director of German ambient pioneers Tangerine Dream — and their debut 2LP set Gentō comes out via earMUSIC this upcoming Friday, August 22, 2025. In the Q&A portion of this post, AP editor Mike Mettler and Rothery discuss the overall sonic goals for Bioscope, his appreciation of half-speed mastering and film soundtracks, and which Marillion LPs the guitar maestro suggests the AP faithful and newbies alike should spin on their turntables to get a sense of their musical intentions and inclinations. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jul 13, 2025

To say Live Aid altered the course of many an artist’s career exactly 40 years ago today on July 13, 1985, would be an understatement of epic proportions. One such artist got to do so with one single solitary solo performance — keyboardist/vocalist Howard Jones. Forty years on, Jones continues to create new and vital work, in addition to touring his long-loved hits. To cover all of the then and now bases, Jones and AP editor Mike Mettler got on the horn together across the Pond to discuss his compositional thought processes behind what appears on the vinyl version of his new limited-edition 180g LP Piano Composed Ivory, his most vivid recollections of performing at Live Aid, and which two British uber-superstars got a truly private performance backstage of a song Jones didn’t get to perform for the gathered Live Aid masses. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jul 03, 2025

Robin Trower is an unabashed guitar master. After he left British proto-prog rockers Procol Harum in 1971, he quickly established himself as an axeslinger/songwriter to be reckoned with via early albums like March 1973’s template setting Twice Removed From Yesterday, the perennial April 1974 FM favorite Bridge of Sighs, and February 1975’s eternally rifftastical For Earth Below, the latter of which was just released as a 180g 2LP 50th Anniversary Edition on June 27, 2025. In a recent interview, AP editor Mike Mettler and Trower discussed the differences between the 1975 and 2025 Earth mixes, the vibrancy of his new album Come and Find Me, and the key reason why his music simply sounds better on vinyl. . .

Mike Mettler  |  May 01, 2025

We lost a true hero the other day. Mike Peters, frontman of the iconoclast Welsh alt-rockers The Alarm, passed away at age 66 on April 29, 2025, in Dyserth, Wales, following a three-decades-long battle with cancer. In a previously unpublished interview conducted in 2024, AP editor Mike Mettler and Peters discuss his favorite record shops he went to while growing up in Wales, the importance of understanding sleeve notes, and why early Alarm records were quieter on vinyl than they should have been. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Mar 29, 2025

Progressive thinking, thy name is Alex Lifeson. The once and forever Rush guitarist recently found new creative life within his current four-person band Envy of None, and he couldn’t be happier. In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Lifeson discusses how he remastered his 1996 solo album Victor specifically for a 2024 2LP vinyl reissue, his album-sequencing philosophy for Envy of None’s powerful new LP Stij(ē)ən Wāvs, what the first LP and first 45 he ever bought were, and what he hopes Rush’s enduring legacy will be. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Mar 18, 2025

Singer, songwriter, and folk-centric multi-instrumentalist Jesse Colin Young passed away at age 83 at his home in Aiken, South Carolina, on March 16, 2025. Young’s artistic legacy remains quite vibrant and most especially fruitful on vinyl, whether it be from The Youngbloods era on Sundazed’s 2010 reissue of 1967’s Earth Music and Impex’s 2023 180g LP reissue of 1969’s Elephant Mountain, or Young’s 2019 2LP solo album Dreamers. In this mega-expanded interview, Young and AP editor Mike Mettler discuss how The Youngbloods’ perennial favorite “Get Together” beat the odds to become an indelible hit, why he felt “Darkness, Darkness” is among his best-loved — and most covered — songs, and why his 2019 studio album Dreamers absolutely had to appear on 2LPs, and not just one. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jan 23, 2025

The legacy of David Lynch, the inimitable audiovisual pioneer who passed away a week ago on January 15, 2025, at age 78, lives forever on — not only onscreen, but also on vinyl. In an updated historical interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Lynch discusses the first singles he ever bought, the differences between “objective” and “subjective” science when it comes to album sequencing, and the specific way his hard-of-hearing Twin Peaks character Gordon Cole would want to listen to music. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jan 16, 2025

For many of the interesting, innovative, and forward-thinking, progressive-leaning recordings of the past half-century-plus that we live for and love on vinyl, Tony Levin has been both their heartbeat and anchor. Whether it’s with King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Paula Cole, ABWH, Stick Men, or scores of other artists’ albums that number well into the 500s, Levin’s signature bass tones immediately let you know, “Now, this is going to be a rewarding listening experience.” In a recent Zoom interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Levin discusses the ongoing wonderment that comes with flipping over LP sides, what his first vinyl recording session was in the 1950s, and the “complicated” decision behind when to sing, or when not to sing. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Dec 13, 2024

The 1990s were a decade of transition. It was a time when recording artists had to figure out how to move on from MTV-era preening and get back to creating their music more for aural satisfaction, not just visual pleasure. Everclear, an alt-rock trio from Portland, Oregon, made quite a splash during the ’90s — see “Santa Monica,” “Everything to Everyone,” and “Father of Mine,” for starters — but as the calendar turned to the 2000s, bandleader and chief songwriter Art Alexakis had a vision to chronicle how his life was falling apart, in two parts. The first half of that heart-wrenching story, July 2000’s Songs From an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How to Smile, was a smash hit on CD, but it never made its way onto vinyl. Intervention Records righted that wrong back in September 2024 with their limited-edition 140g 1LP translucent yellow version of Vol. One, which is one of AP’s Best Reissues of 2024. During a recent Zoom interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Alexakis discusses why SFAAM Vol. One sounds better on vinyl, why he always sequences his albums with vinyl in mind, and if a second LP of the overarching SFAAM storyline is in the offing.. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Nov 25, 2024

The first word that comes to mind whenever we think of the guitar playing of Andy Summers is texture. The once and forever Police guitarist was — and still is, really — a master of tone and feel. He inherently knew how to create a sonic table setting to drape around whatever cerebral subject matter the chief Police lyricist, bassist/vocalist Sting, came up with while also leaving room for his vocals and low-end additions to both breathe and flourish — not to mention how Summers was able to weave in and out of Stewart Copeland’s truly original drumming and percussion embellishments. During a recent Zoom interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Summers discusses his favorite Police moments on vinyl, his preferred record store haunts in England while he was growing up, and if his 1980s collaborations with King Crimson’s Robert Fripp might soon see vinyl reissues and/or upgrades. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Sep 18, 2024

JD Souther, a consummate American songwriter known for co-writing hits and choice deep cuts for (and with) the Eagles as well as for his poignant collaborations with James Taylor, Roy Orbison, and onetime life partner Linda Ronstadt, passed away at age 78 at his home in New Mexico on September 17, 2024. In an updated and expanded interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Souther discussed his appreciation for good turntables and mastering for vinyl, how long it took “New Kid in Town” (one of the many hit Eagles songs he co-wrote) to finally come to full fruition, and what artists/producers must do to make “great” vinyl masters. . .

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