His career in the world of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal now spans twenty-eight years and has earned him the reputation as the “go to guy” for the genre. He continues to host his syndicated show, “Eddie Trunk Rocks,” a weekly show on SiriusXM’s Boneyard channel, “Eddie Trunk Live” and his TV show on VH1 Classic, “That Metal Show,” is now entering its 9th season. Now Trunk has authored his first book, “Eddie Trunk’s Essential Guide to Hard Rock And Heavy Metal.”
Eddie Trunk
By Mark LaSpina
In the movie “Almost Famous,” Lester Bangs cautions young want-to-be-writer William Miller not to make friends with the bands. For Eddie Trunk, it’s been a key to his success. His career in the world of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal now spans twenty-eight years and has earned him the reputation as the “go to guy” for the genre. His radio shows, both syndicated and on SiriusXM, have featured some of Hard Rock/Heavy Metal’s biggest names, while his VH1 Classic “That Metal Show” is entering its 9thseason and has expanded to one hour. Trunk has now authored his first book, “Eddie Trunk’s Essential Guide to Hard Rock And Heavy Metal.” FMQB checks in with well-respected multi-media maven as he takes to the road on his book signing tour.
How is your first ever book tour going so far?
It’s going amazingly well. Being new to the publishing world I have learned a lot about how it all works but so far so good and the crowds have been great. I’m lucky that I have a couple radio shows and a TV show so that helps as well.
Has the success of the book surprised you at all?
Yes and the publisher I think as well. I found out that I sold enough copies the first week to make the NY Times Best Seller list, but didn’t because my book is music based it was sold at some non traditional outlets that don’t report to the Times like record and indie stores. I actually sold more copies in week one than books that were on the list as it turns out. Nice to know but I almost wish I didn’t! Seriously it’s been great, it’s still selling well. There is another promo run coming and they are talking sequel, so we will see. I never get to high or low, we’ll just see how it all goes.
What prompted you to write the book? Had it been something you had planned to do for a while?
Yes, but I wanted and still want to do an autobiography. You can’t really do that well unless you have Sammy Hagar money and don’t have to work! This became a hybrid of personal stories about the bands I grew up loving, some of my dealings with them, and amazing never before seen photos by a good friend Ron Akiyama that spans decades. Obviously I couldn’t feature every band but that’s what the next one will be for. My publisher Abrams actually does not do autobiographies, they are known for art books. Originally this book was going to be even more photo driven, but when people started hearing my stories it became 50% text, 50% stories. A great toilet bowl book! The list price of $19.95 is insane for the quality of the book. A couple magazines cost that. So Abrams did a great job there. They came to me from a friend and musician Neal Casal, who had done a Ryan Adams photo book for them. He called and said they wanted to do a classic Metal book and I should meet with them, and it went from there. I still will do the autobiography one day.
Judas Priest’s Rob Halford penned the forward for the book. How did that come about?
Halford and the late Ronnie James Dio have always been two of my heroes and favorite people in this business for the decades I’ve been in it. If you’re going to write a book on this style of music who better than The Metal God? I simply texted him and he said sure and sent it right over. Priest and Rob have always been amazing to me. They played a private show for my 25 years in metal radio a couple years ago. Ronnie passed away while I was writing the book and it’s dedicated to him and the late Eric Carr (KISS). They are two people who I really loved and were friends beyond the business. The Dio chapter was written when I returned from hosting Ronnie’s memorial in LA. There is a connection to Rob in there as well so it was a pretty powerful one. To have friendships and connections to these people still blows me away as a fan.
You have some wonderful anecdotes throughout the book. What are some of your personal favorites?
Everyone seems to love something different about the book which is great. I’m asked most about when Axl Rose walked in to my radio show in 2006. Everyone from Lars Ulrich to Steven Tyler has asked me about that over the years. That’s detailed in the GnR chapter pretty extensively. In the opening of the book I touch on my early years in radio and doing my demo on a pirate station. Stuff like that brings back great memories for me. The personal stuff about what I did to get here. Also playing Metallica the first time on radio is pretty cool and memorable. I mean this book just scratches the surface. People are loving it so far. I gotta get it all out before I forget. It’s a huge challenge to remember. Ace Frehley just asked me to write a story for his book. I can’t believe he remembers anything but now that he’s sober I’m sure it’s coming back.
You chose your top 35 bands for book. Was that hard narrowing the list down?
God yes. My original list had around 70 bands! To keep the book a certain size and price it had to be cut. The bands in the back of the book with just a paragraph, I wrote full sections for them! I’ll start with them in the next book and add a bunch more. This book has bands I personally love and/or thought were important for the reasons I state in the book. I have also always loved hard Rock and Metal, which is why you will see Billy Squier and Bon Jovi, as well as Slayer and Megadeth. I like and have always supported both worlds without prejudice. Tons of bands I love are not in this. Also, the playlists were cut way down and the songs in it are not in any order. The first one listed is not my all time favorite for instance. All the ticket stubs and stuff are really mine from the shows I write about.
So there will be another book in the future?
For sure, but not sure when. Doing this book was much more work and more time consuming than I thought. I also think there is a lot of life left in this one, so I don’t want to get diverted. People are discovering it every day and I want to work it through the year. I put so much into this one I’m not going to bail on supporting it after a month. There will be a sequel and someday the autobiography which will get more into the business end and behind the scenes in radio, TV and with these bands.
“That Metal Show” is now entering its 9th season on VH1 Classic. Has the switch from a 30 minute show to one hour made it easier to produce?I was fighting for 60 minutes since day one. The 30 minute shows were agonizing for me! Coming from radio I was just getting warmed up with these guys and then the show was over. It’s more work at an hour, but the format is so much better and has a real talk show feel now. I’d like 2 hours with just one guest, but I get that TV has to move quicker. That’s why I love my SiriusXM show, 4 hours, no commercials, and I can talk two hours and really get into stuff with guests. But the TV show has been so popular not only in the US but now internationally, so I’m thrilled.What guests do you have lined up for this season? Any surprises?
We are taping in late July in LA and we start to air in August. Shooting in summer is so hard because artists are on tour. We do ten shows this next run on five tape days, so if you’re not in LA the week and a half we are there, we can’t have you. That’s why Maiden and others have yet to be on. They are global bands and to schedule stuff with them on the road is difficult. Eventually we will get them all. I personally book many of the guests because I have relationships with them. This season is not done at the time I’m doing this interview but I can say I finally got Sammy Hagar, which will be great. Tom Morello, Anthrax, Stryper, Cheap Trick, a very wide variety as usual which I love. It’s called That Metal Show, but it’s really a Rock and Metal show obviously.
So it’s better for the show to tape in Los Angeles as opposed to New York?
We are staying in LA for one reason; 90% of the artists live there. We are all East Coast NY/NJ based, but it became much easier for us to go to them than try to get them to come 3000 miles. So unless every musician decides to move to NYC we will be in LA for the shows. Even the UK based guys also have a second house in LA. It’s just easier to book.
Who haven’t you had on the show yet that you would like to?
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley as well as Ozzy have been offered many times. Fans request them all the time. They won’t do it. Unless we get direct communication it’s impossible to know why. If they have issues with things we have said you would hope they would come debate it. What’s really funny is they will do shows their fans do not watch, the hosts know nothing about them, and they are made fun of when they are not there, but I give up trying to figure it out. Motley Crue for sure, and Nikki wants to do it, just scheduling at this point. I just spoke to him and he watches the show. Obviously Eddie Van Halen, Axl, Jimmy Page. I mean some of the obvious guys for sure and the door is open to them. People have to want to do the show though and not everyone can hang like that. Eventually they will come around we hope. I don’t want to discount the lesser known artists. Some of my favorite guests have been non marquee names. Scott Gorham from Thin Lizzy comes to mind. I mean so many that you don’t get the usual soundbites from. Also VH1 has to approve all guests, so unlike my radio show I can’t just plug in anyone I want. It’s a process. I’m grateful for everyone who watches or listens or reads what I do and I’ll just keep plugging and hoping for the best.
I believe you have maintained your credibility with the artists by being truthful with them. If you’re not a fan of something you will voice your opinion, but still be supportive.
Most of them get and respect that. A few don’t. It’s got to be blind worship or nothing. In radio and when we started the TV show I said it is so important we speak like we do if there were no cameras or mics. It buys you much more respect with the audience and in the end the artists because they know you are willing to not just kiss ass. In a couple instances it has been a problem but that’s okay, hopefully they will come around. I am a fan, will always be, but that does not mean you have to love every single thing. Bands like Metallica and Def Leppard get that. Sadly it seems KISS and Ozzy (Sharon) do not. I also think communication is key. So many times things show up online attributed to me and it’s not me or was taken out of context. People know where to find me, let’s actually TALK!
[eQB Content by Mark LaSpina]
