Thacher E. Cleveland is a busy man. On top of a civilian life, he’s a contributing writer and columnist for PanelsOnPages.com, co-host of the Super-Fly Comics and Games PodCast, and is the writer of the surprise cult hit novella “Winston & Churchill Case” series. Available at Smashwords and Amazon, it’s a must-read for fans of supernatural and/or detective fiction.

With a new installment of the series just out, Thacher chatted with Geeks Of Doom via e-mail about “Winston & Churchill,” genre writing, the e-book market, and moving into comics writing. [...]

If aliens came to earth and wanted to know what true heavy metal is, you could do a lot worse than to introduce them to Iced Earth, the Tampa, Florida band of sheer brute force whose near thirty year history has given us ten studio albums. But they’re not done yet.

Overseen from the beginning and at all times by ever-present guitarist and founder Jon Schaffer, Iced Earth’s is a story of a man with a one-track metal mind. Fronted during their history by ex-Judas Priest pipesman Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens and long-serving lead singer Matt Barlow, Iced Earth embarked on another new chapter in 2011 by hiring Canadian Stu Block and releasing album number ten, Dystopia.

If those aliens enjoyed Dystopia, which of course they would, what with it being yet another storming heavy metal charge, they may also like to get their hands/tentacles on Iced Earth’s newest live album. Live In Ancient Kourion was recorded and filmed at the beautiful, historic Kourion amphitheatre in Cyprus and boasts close to three hours of Schaffer and his band cranking out their hits to some crazy Cypriots.

Schaffer, as he says, is a man who moves forward all the time, which is why the future of Iced Earth is bright. Now is the time to hear from the leader…

Geeks of Doom: How are you?

Jon Schaffer: Good, man, just busy writing, working, doing a lot of press for the DVD. I’m in the writing process for the next Iced Earth album, so it’s always a time of a lot of pressure and a lot of work but it’s good, very happy with what’s coming out so far [...]

You would be hard pressed to find a musician who has had a more expansive and eclectic career than the illustrious Mike Watt, who started during the last waves of the original punk scene in California during the late 1970s and gained his original prominence as the bassist in the post-punk trio The Minutemen, which became one of the more well known bands of that genre and helping SST records (along with Black Flag, Sonic Youth, and the Meat Puppets among others) become a major player in the DIY music scene that was crystallizing itself as the 1980s rolled on. With lead singer/guitarist D. Boon and drummer George Hurley, The Minutemen spanned genres within the post-punk genre, adding dashes of funk, jazz, classic swamp rock like Creedence Clearwater Revival and the hardest edged swords of punk proper and released scores of albums and EP’s which have become highly influential and spawned many other bands which followed in their wake.

D. Boon died tragically in December 1985 and it marked the end of an era for The Minutemen. The rhythm section of Watt and Hurley thundered on however, and a new band, Firehose, with Ed “From Ohio” Crawford” was born, which also had their own cult niche as they released three sonically challenging records as the 1980s winded down. Since then, Mike Watt has been on scores of projects, many of his own solo bands and bands with like-minded musicians and also on big league ensembles such as Porno For Pyros and his new gig, which has been doing for almost ten years now, being the bass player in the Detroit Rock City powerhouse The Stooges.

I had the golden opportunity to conduct a lengthy interview with the man via video Skype, in which he waxed incredible about all the aforementioned topics and projects, and plenty of others, including his propensity for analog and digital when it comes to recording, some of his favorite bands and genres, life as an “econo” musician (a term he coined and which in essence, the man refreshingly still is) and of course, the upcoming Stooges album, Ready to Die [...]

LA’s hard rockin’, hard partyin’ heroes Buckcherry have survived more band and personal problems than most. Lead singer Josh Todd has lived through them all and barely survived to tell his tales.

Thankfully, though, he has and his band is back with arguably the album of their career. Confessions contains a lifetime of those stories and thoughts based loosely around the seven deadly sins and tied up with Todd’s personal demons. Read the Geeks of Doom review HERE.

Fresh from successful support and headline shows, Josh Todd and Buckcherry are ready for the summer festival season and the chance to share their Confessions with the world [...]

Today, April 20, marks Record Store Day 2013, where special vinyl releases will be available exclusively through brick and mortar independent record stores. Many artists are involved in the promotion and celebration of the day, including Mike Watt, bassist for some amazing bands over the years like The Minutemen, Firehose, and currently Iggy and The Stooges. (There’s even a special vinyl-sized Mike Watt Tote Bag available that you can fill up with all your records.)

Recently, Geeks of Doom’s Stoogeypedia had a chance to have a lengthy video Skype conversation with Watt about a plethora of topics, including his participation in Record Store Day — Watt will be performing today with The Secondmen at Fingerprints Record Store in Long Beach, CA. So, in honor of today’s celebration of vinyl, we asked Watt to reveal his Top 6 Favorite Records Of All Time (we asked for five, but apparently, he’s got six). Check out an excerpt from our conversation here below [...]

Blazing through the slipstream of the Juggernaut Of Justice album and tour success, Canadian metal legends Anvil are back with a new line up and a new album.

Ever-present drummer Robb Reiner is confident that the band’s latest album, Hope In Hell, coming out in May this year, will build upon the success of their recent resurgence and deliver their best release for thirty years. “I can’t say much about it other than it’s fucking awesome!”

Robbo was very relaxed and happy to talk about new bass player Sal Italiano’s input, getting back out on the road, and stepping away from their breakthrough documentary Anvil! The Story Of Anvil.

Continue reading for the interview! [...]

With the anticipation running at fever pitch for the upcoming horror re-imagining of The Evil Dead, the film which rightly has its place as one of the horror genre’s modern classics of all time, I had the opportunity to have a sit down face-to-face interview this past weekend at this year’s WonderCon in Anaheim, CA with the incomparable Bruce Campbell, the franchise’s original star and main players, who also has become an absolute icon of the genre and is part of the production for the new film.

Looking sharp, lean, and distinguished, Campbell waxed about the new film, the original trilogy, why he surprisingly didn’t enjoy making Army of Darkness, his career highlights, what scares the hell out of him, and the horror genre itself, in which he even used a marijuana metaphor to describe its appeal (!). Fun, unassuming, honest, bold, and witty, spending time with Bruce Campbell is intimidating in the best possible sense. He knows exactly what he is and that confidence shows in multitudes. The man looks you directly in the eye when he speaks to you and he doesn’t mince words. In essence, Campbell is his own boomstick, one that is groovy indeed, and whip smart… S-mart.

Geeks of Doom: So the upcoming Evil Dead has already gotten tremendously good buzz. That must be pretty amazing for you to hear.

Bruce Campbell: Yeah, it’s pretty good, it’s catching on like wildfire. That’s what you want with a horror movie, you want good word of mouth. And even after it comes out, we want good word of mouth.

Geeks of Doom: Why did it take so long to get to final fruition? [...]

As scores of fans around the country are bracing themselves for the Season 3 Finale of the AMC hit series The Walking Dead this Sunday, here’s a little something to “whet their appetites.” I recently had the opportunity and pleasure to engage in a one-on-one phone conversation with Gale Anne Hurd, one of the show’s Executive Producers, who has also been responsible for some of the great sci-fi productions of the modern age, like The Terminator franchise, Aliens, and The Abyss, among others. Hurd had lots to say about the apocalyptic zombie-riddled soaper and the phenomenon that is The Walking Dead is, as well as teasing a little about Sunday’s finale, and even offering up some fun personal tidbits about what makes her sci-fi moxie tick.

Geeks of Doom: Well, the last episode of The Walking Dead was obviously a shocker, and I know the season 3 finale is coming up on Sunday, so in the throes of all of this, are you still surprised at what a phenomenon this is, do you ever get used to this?

Gale Anne Hurd: No, you can’t get used to it. [laughs] And why would you want to? We just have the best fans in the world and we do our best to keep them engaged, and sadly, sometimes we have to break their hearts and our hearts.

Geeks of Doom: What’s the biggest challenge each week in keeping the show fresh and unpredictable, which you have been able to do? It’s been amazing to think with the narrative that it is that the show surprises, jolts, and shocks everybody each week.

Gale Anne Hurd: Well, I think the most important thing is to make sure that all of the events and the plot points develop from character. We strive really hard to do that, to make sure that the plot isn’t in charge, that everything that happens is motivated by character, and that the consequences of some of these devastating events affect the surviving characters [...]

Check this out! I had a chance to chat with director Josh Johnson, producer Carolee Mitchell, and Cinematographer/Editor Christopher Palmer at 2013′s South by Southwest Film Festival about the world premiere of their new VHS documentary, Rewind This!.

We discuss the impact of the VHS media format, hand-painted cover art, and childhood memories of Tim Burton’s Batman, Evil Dead II, and, you guessed it, Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Check out my review of Rewind This! for more information on this kick-ass love letter to the video tape! Video interview with the filmmakers is here below [...]

Have you wanted to own an original drawing or painting of your favorite movie or comic character? You might think it would cost a fortune and be difficult to obtain. But it’s not. There are lots of up-and-coming artists who offer some really reasonable prices for a one-of-a-kind piece. When it was first discussed that Geeks of Doom wanted to spotlight these artists, I immediately had a couple of names at the ready-not just from seeing their work online, but because I have commissioned artwork from them.

And the one from whom I have purchased the most this past year is Justin McCafferty. I first saw his work on Instagram and immediately fell in love with it. I bought a Batman Returns Catwoman that he had made and posted for sale, but the rest of my purchases were commisions across the board: a classic Black Canary, Harley Quinn from the Arkham Asylum game, Catwoman from the Arkham City game (for a friend who collects Selina Kyle stuff) and Mystique in her classic white dress. He has very reasonable prices, too. Heck, he even has shirts and other merchandise available for purchase! [...]

With over ten years playing in one of the best British rock bands ever, guitarist Doug Aldrich has cemented his place as one of the greats. With fellow American and guitar partner Reb Beach, only band leader David Coverdale has spent more time in the Whitesnake camp. And this snake continues to slither.

With the imminent release of the CD/DVD Made In Japan, recorded in 2011 at the Saitama Super Arena, came the news that iconic drummer Tommy Aldridge would be returning to the drumseat.

The band is gearing up for another busy year of touring and is due to hit UK shores in May on a dream bill with Journey and Thunder. Aldrich was on hand to give us the lowdown.

Geeks of Doom: Are you excited to have Tommy [Aldridge] back in the band?

Doug Aldrich: Absolutely. Tommy is a legend and a part of Whitesnake history. He’s one of the greats on drums. We have been in WS together and I love working with him. We are all very excited [...]

It was a very happy (and then sad) day when I was told I could interview R.A. Salvatore again. I always get some really great information that makes me love the books even more, but sadly this was not to be.

Conflicting schedules kept me from actually getting to chat with him, unfortunately. But he was able to answer some questions via email for me, a pretty nice consolation prize if I ever saw one. With The Last Threshold ending the Neverwinter Saga, a lot of people are curious to see where this very unique series has been leading our favorite Drow ranger. Salvatore never ceases to take us on a wondrous adventure and this book is certainly no different.

Continue reading to see what Salvatore had to say.

Geeks Of Doom: The ending of the last book, Charon’s Claw, left us with a huge gap forming between Drizzt and Dahlia. Was that foreshadowing for this novel or did I perhaps read too much into it? [...]

Doctor Who showrunner, Steven Moffat, recently sat down with Ed Stradling for an interview recorded for the Gallifrey 2013 convention in Los Angeles. During the interview, Moffat answers many questions Whovians have about the current series, the 50th anniversary, Series 8, and much more.

When questioned for clarification on the plans for the 50th anniversary special, Steven Moffat says “Don’t believe the nonsense about ONE 60 minute special for the anniversary.” He didn’t elaborate from that, but did make clear that there is a A LOT planned for the anniversary, and hinted that more details would be coming soon.

Also of interest is that Moffat verified that the anniversary special will be in 3D. While he explained how busy everyone is on the technical side of making this a reality, but did not elaborate on how this is going to be delivered to the viewers. Will it be released as a 3D Blu-ray, or will we see some form of theatrical release? No hints on those answers at this point.

Some other elements that Moffat emphasizes [...]

Currently hard at work on album number four, British thrash metal band Evile are hoping the follow-up to the stunning Five Serpent’s Teeth will see them fully establish themselves and join the genre’s greats. Frontman Matt Drake is confident his band can deliver the goods.

It’s already been a long journey for the Yorkshiremen having started out as Metal Militia, a metal covers band, before breaking out on their own. Working with a superstar producer kick-started a run of three great thrash albums in Enter The Grave, Infected Nations, and Five Serpent’s Teeth, while the death of a bandmate continues to spur them on.

Geeks of Doom: How’s the new album coming?

Matt Drake: Very good so far … like we’ve always done, we’ve gone Grave, Nations was different to Grave, Serpent’s is different to them two … I’m thinking a bit more ballsy, more to the point, but without losing the melody that we can do and the harmonies we’ve done.

Geeks of Doom: There was a bit of a fuss made about “In Memoriam” [from the Five Serpent’s Teeth album, ‘inspired’ by the death of original bass player Mike Alexander]. [...]

With one mini-series in the bag, as well as a run in Dark Horse Presents, Michael Avon Oeming‘s The Victories has already established itself as a fun new superhero series with a unique take on the genre and more of Oeming’s singular art.

Today, Geeks of Doom learned that The Victories is set to return this May as an ongoing series from Dark Horse Comics.

I spoke with Oeming about the series and got a first look at the cover and a preview page from the first issue, which you can check out below after the jump [...]