This week we go all over the shop. Crowd funding ventures for Paul Di'Anno and Crobar, an education in belt heirarchy in ju-jitsu, and the 'politics in music' debate.

Also Jim's mate Tom comes on to talk about Nic Cage's "Drive Angry".

Ed Van Zijl started his career at Bertus Distribution in 1982 before moving to the Roadrunner Records Amsterdam office in 1985.

In this episode, Ed casts a light on the infancy of the company, as well as Cees' thinking behind the day-to-day running of the label.

You can check out the Mascot Label Group's roster of artists at https://www.mascotlabelgroup.com/.

In this episode I close the chapter on The Great Kat (for now). Tom Von Doom was Kat's bass player for the 'Worship Me or Die!' period.

Tom was kind enough to tell me the story of the album cycle from his perspective, as well as his relationship with Kat. If you've seen the mini-doc I did on Kat a few weeks ago, Tom should be a familiar face.

You can find Tom @TomVonDoom on Facebook and Twitter.

Raw returns from his sabbatical in Panama this week to try and change the podcast to a more "trumpet jazz" direction. Also featured is his disdain for Ozzy Osbournes career trajectory, and Dungeon Synth.

In the latter half - Tom and Jim talk about Nic Cage's psychedelic grindhouse film, Mandy.

This conversation is with Richard Bengloff - former CFO for Sony Music, and in the narrative of Roadrunner Records, former CFO for RED, the distribution company for Roadrunner in the 80's/90's.

We talk about Richard's memories of dealing with Roadrunner, and he also gives me a comprehensive introduction into how the distribution/retail side of the record business works.

This episode is economics heavy so grab a calculator and strap in!

https://www.templeofbleh.com

In this episode I speak with music industry titan Miles Leonard. Miles needs very little introduction, having launched the careers of some of today's most popular artists.

Miles was with Roadrunner UK from 1993 to 1995, and here he shares his memories and reflections on that time.

Don't forget to check out some of the written interviews found at https://www.templeofbleh.com.

In this episode, Mike Gitter and I shoot the breeze, and celebrate the 15th birthday of a formative music landmark for myself, Dragonforce's 'Inhuman Rampage'.

Mike is a music industry veteran, with a career spanning over 30 years in music journalism and A&R. Given he spent 12 years at Roadrunner Records, and is directly responsible for kickstarting the careers of some of my favourite bands - we're likely to be speaking again in 2021!

Check out the previous interviews in the series on your podcast feed, as well as written interviews at https://www.templeofbleh.com/

This week I have some actual metal news to rattle on about. I've sacked off Metal Tat because there's just simply too much Anthrax stuff, and I go into the story of Ian Gillan's tenure with Black Sabbath!

On the Sabbath bit - I do nab a bit of audio from the below YouTube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppR838nSNX8

In this episode I'm lucky enough to be talking to the legendary Bob Gruen. Bob was John Lennon and Yoko Ono's photographer throughout the 70's, and that is just one of the many many accolades to his name.

Bob was also the photographer for The Great Kat, who was a Roadrunner artist in the late 80's-early 90's.

We talk about Bob's new book, Right Time, Right Place, as well as his time with the Kat.

You can get Right Time, Right Place pretty much anywhere, but I think we should drive traffic to his own website.

[http://www.bobgruen.com/right-place-right-time-the-life-of-a-rock-roll-photographer-available-october-20-2020/]

No normal episode this week as I've been working on this :).

I say it in the intro, but this is effectively a proof of concept before I go into the proper "History of" episodes in earnest. I just thought The Great Kat was worth shining a light on in the meantime, as she's an incredibly compelling musician and person.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this one, and check out The Great Kat on all the socials and https://www.greatkat.com. Also check out my written interview with her at templeofbleh.com.