Paul Gargano remembers Michael Jackson

I always wished I could moonwalk.

Not because I listened to hip-hop and wanted to add the move to my breakdancing repertoire, but because Michael Jackson made everyone wish they could moonwalk.

Michael Jackson is the King of Pop because he made awkward and pudgy white kids in suburban America wish they could move like he could. Gawky kids like me were the final frontier, and he was the great unifier. Everyone loved Michael Jackson, because you couldn’t not love Michael Jackson.

Tesla

An interview with members of Sacramento’s legendary Tesla

Slayer

In the past 25 years, Slayer have become more than a band; they have become a right of passage. From the first unholy alliance of frontman/bassist Tom Araya, guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman and drummer Dave Lombardo in 1981, through the release of their “Show No Mercy” debut two years later, and beyond the onslaught of last year’s “Christ Illusion,” they’ve embodied the very essence of heavy metal’s macabre roots, and become the lightening rod for bands that hope to prey on the genre’s unearthly future. It’s been a quarter-century, but even time can’t temper the band whose history has been set ablaze by such legendary releases as “Hell Awaits,” “South of Heaven” and “God Hates Us All.” Maximum Ink sat down with Araya on the eve of the band’s upcoming North American tour, a tour that promises more than just bringing Satan back…

Papa Roach

An interview with the newly recharged singer of Papa Roach Jacoby Maddix about the Paramour Sessions and more!

Tool

Maynard James Keenan doesn’t want Tool to change the way you think, he wants you to change the way you think. To that end, new release “10,000 Days” is as profound as any statement in Tool’s five album catalog, sculpting a grisly and garish sonic landscape of a world run astray. Never ones to paint an explicit picture, Tool – frontman Keenan, guitarist Adam Jones, drummer Danny Carey and bassist Justin Chancellor – paint in broad strokes, blurring acute angles with more obtuse symmetry, and making their music a truly interactive experience. It’s about asking the questions that aren’t supposed to be asked, and finding the answers that aren’t supposed to be found. It’s about finding inspiration where others may see desolation. It’s about opening a third eye and making the pieces fit. It was in that spirit of self-discovery and realization that Maximum Ink sat down with Maynard James Keenan for this exclusive interview…

Stone Sour

Consider Stone Sour the yin to Slipknot’s yang. While frontman Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root raise hell on earth with the depraved metal anthems that have become Slipknot’s trademark, in Stone Sour they opt for a more level-headed approach to the sonic spectrum. They color that spectrum brilliantly on sophomore release “Come What(ever) May,” banging with the best of them on breakneck opener “30/30-150,” and closing the album with “Zzyzx Rd,” a piano-paced introspective meltdown that bellies Bob Seger’s epic “Turn the Page” up against Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.” The album is one of the year’s standout efforts, and the band – Taylor, Root, guitarist Josh Rand, bassist Shawn Economaki and drummer Roy Mayorga – will be unveiling the material on this summer’s Family Values tour, sharing a stage with Korn, the Deftones, Flyleaf and Dir En Gray. The tour stops in East Troy at the Alpine Valley Music Theater Aug. 26 – Jim Root offered Maximum Ink this exclusive interview to help pass the time…