Mike Mettler

Interviews

Pumpkin Seeds: Billy Corgan is a Busy Man

Mike Mettler Sep 09, 2026

Billy Corgan is a busy man. The Smashing Pumpkins frontman has a schedule that would exhaust artists half his age. (He's 59.) Right now the guitarist/vocalist is guiding Smashing Pumpkins on "The Rats in a Cage Tour," in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the alt-rock giants' biggest release, 1995's 5× Platinum, double-album epic Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

Sound Chaser

Sound Chaser #12: Tom Petty's Right-Hand Guitar Man Heads Up The Dirty Knobs

Mike Mettler Aug 25, 2026

Mike Campbell is a consummate support artist. He was Tom Petty's right-hand guitar man for 47 years, first with Florida swamp-rockers Mudcrutch, later as a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, then ultimately extending his reach to support Petty's solo endeavors.

Music and Recording Features

Weir Science: A Fare-Thee-Well to Bob Weir

Mike Mettler Aug 10, 2026

The Grateful Dead ushered in an era of open-minded experimentation and endless touring that paused occasionally but never really expired until its participants did. It follows that saying goodbye to cofounding Grateful Dead guitarist/vocalist Bob Weir, who passed away at age 78 on January 10, 2026, truly signifies the end of an era.

Sound Chaser

Sound Chaser #11: Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon Come Together Again

Mike Mettler Aug 07, 2026

Few bands are as, shall we say, onomatopoetic as The Claypool Lennon Delirium. The Delirium is the umbrella under which bassist/vocalist Les Claypool (Primus, Fearless Flying Frog Brigade) and guitarist/vocalist Sean Ono Lennon (The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger) gather occasionally and combine their creative forces to make some of the weirdest, wildest, wackiest soundscapes imaginable.

Revinylized!

Revinylization #76: Joe Jackson's New & Old Albums

Mike Mettler Jul 06, 2026

Photo by Harry Elliott

Joe Jackson, the veteran British pianist/vocalist, insists on a certain level of sound quality, which can be traced all the way back to his 1979 A&M debut album, Look Sharp! His five-decade-long career has covered a vast repertoire, and along the way, he's stuck in a few allusions to previous work.

Music and Recording Features Sound Chaser

Sound Chaser #10: Remembering Dave Mason

Mike Mettler Jun 24, 2026

Dave Mason, the British guitarist/vocalist who passed away at 79 on April 19, conceded that some of his best-known songs fared better with other people's voices. "I may not be the best interpreter of certain songs of mine," he told me during a phone interview in 2018. "For example, I feel like Cocker's got the definitive version of 'Feelin' Alright?'"

Music and Recording Features Sound Chaser

Sound Chaser #9: Derek Trucks Keeps the Jam-Band Sound Alive

Mike Mettler Jun 03, 2026

You could say that guitar phenom Derek Trucks grew up in a musical family. His late uncle, drummer Butch Trucks, was a cofounder of The Allman Brothers Band, and his younger brother Duane drums for Widespread Panic. Derek's jam-centric DNA shaped the sound found in the grooves of Future Soul (Fantasy), the sixth studio album from Tedeschi Trucks Band/

Music and Recording Features

Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman on the Triumphant Return of The Guess Who

Mike Mettler May 25, 2026

Mike Mettler talks with Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman about The Guess Who's new reunion tour, why they were early proponents of releasing stereo singles, which one of them loves vinyl and which one prefers CD and digital, and how the eternal hit that is "American Woman" was born out of an improvised riff during a live show.

Interviews

The Book of David (Gilmour)

Mike Mettler Apr 28, 2026

"Thank you very much indeed." That's David Gilmour offering his recurrent humble rejoinder to the fever-pitched audience response throughout the 2.5-hour performance that makes up the bulk of his latest solo release, Live at the Circus Maximus (Sony Music).

Music and Recording Features Sound Chaser

Sound Chaser #8: Pulling Mussels from a (Tape) Shell

Mike Mettler Apr 22, 2026

Each side of the one-sheet lyrics insert accompanying Squeeze's latest LP, Trixies (Love/BMG), has been divvied up into three equal columns that can be folded over to replicate a 4" × 11½" nightclub menu. Subtitled "Trixies Concoctions Menu," the insert conjures the theme of the 13-track song cycle that comprises Trixies, whose storyline traces several scenes set in and around a fictional nightclub.