On this episode we are getting a real behind the scenes look at the development of the LovAnaverse TCG, with some exclusive previews of characters and cards, as well as fundamental information about the project not yet shared before this podcast. Perhaps the most important of which is the unveiling of the 5 primary factions, which each represent a distinct philosophy regarding the supernatural power of music in our universe. From the musical magic of the Arcane faction, to the musical science of Cysis, all are introduced and explored during this episode - and we would love to know which resonate with you the most! We also recap the first ever playtesting event and provide key updates on the overall project, including the fact that you can now officially create game rooms on our playtesting platform at this link here: https://screentop.gg/@LoveAnarchyCo/LovAnaverse Feel free to simply browse around and flick through the cards, or watch along with the last episode to learn how to play. Or better yet, share your games room link with a friend to play a game! Feel free to pop into our Discord to find people to play with and use our games room voice channels. More events will be coming very soon! Among the cards and characters previewed this time around are the 3 on this videos thumbnail, Ben Sebastian of Face Ripper Records demon monk character Tai Kaanai, Louis Nas of Ominous Conclusions cosmic vampire Viktor Craft, & of course Maria Rogers samurai elf Yarimā Kuro. We discuss some of the lore of these characters and take a look at their cards, including those of their support characters such as band members and foot soldiers. It's a great insight into how everything is ultimately driven by the musical storytelling. So all in all lots to chew on and tie you over to the next big development. They're coming thick and fast and things will be lifting off here very soon. It's awesome to have you here early, so thanks for being here for the ride. Enjoy :) WJR ❤️ ~ For all other Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog, etc - go here ~ Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction, updates & our first playtesting event 02:16 - How you can test the game for yourself right now 07:33 - Updates on submissions and the limited slots available 10:30 - Unveiling the 5 Factions of LovAnaverse 27:11 - Deckbuilding / how you choose the Songs in your Songbook 30:12 - Deckbuilding / how to choose your starting Band 31:23 - Character & card previews / Yarima Kuro 38:09 - Tai Kaanai (Ben Sebastian) & Viktor Craft (Louis Nas) 42:36 - The upcoming (revamped) lore website 44:35 - Browsing through a bunch of cards 46:26 - Summary & closing thoughts

Today we're back with another very special episode! Following last week's announcement of our full scale rollout of LovAnaverse as a musical storytelling trading card game - this time around we’re continuing the momentum with a full demonstration on how to play the game. That’s right - the TCG is already here and you will be able to play it for yourself via our digital simulation and voice channels on the Love Anarchy Discord server. In keeping with last year's tradition of Collective Calls on the first Saturday of the month, the first playtesting event will be this Saturday, the 2nd of March, at 6pm UTC in our Discord. So come by to be one of the first people to see the game in action, and possibly even get a chance to play it yourself. It’ll also be a great opportunity to hang out and connect with others from the community and I’ll be there for a few hours to chat and answer any questions about the project. I must say there’s been an absolutely wonderful response to launching this, and I find it so inspirational to be getting such amazing feedback from you all, not to mention getting to collaborate with so many incredible members of our Collective on bringing their musical characters to life. This is really what it’s all about and I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to be doing this amazing work with you all. There is actually still a very small amount of slots still available for creators to be featured in the first set, but you’ll have to be very fast if you want in, so be sure to get in touch asap if you’d like to be involved. There is no cost to you as a creator, just a very limited number of slots. So the best thing to do is quickly fill out the form at https://loveanarchy.co/lovanaverse-creators - and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. But all that aside, we’re going to get a proper look at the game itself right now on this podcast. Now I must disclaim that this is the Alpha version of the game. This means that there can still be drastic changes between now and its official release and it’s your feedback that’s going to help us get there. The cards themselves are all still prototypes and the final design will be improved. We have also tested many different versions of the game throughout the design process and depending on your feedback, we may still opt for alternative versions of key mechanics. But for now, this is the version we wanted to bring to you and the early playtests of it have been a lot of fun. So without further ado, let’s have a look at how to play the Alpha version of the LovAnaverse Trading Card Game. WJR ❤️ ~ For all other Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog, etc - go here ~ Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction, updates & our first playtesting event 03:35 - Overview of the game mat and the different zones 05:33 - Setting the Stage / your starting Band & Crowd 06:44 - Draw phase & playing songs for resource 07:56 - Playing Characters from your hand / combat stats 09:55 - Moving Musicians from the Stage to the Arena 10:31 - Player 2's first turn 11:37 - Combat & the battle phase 13:07 - Crowd effects 13:49 - Musician effects from the Stage 14:47 - Defeated Musicians becoming Suspended 15:53 - Direct Crowd damage & Character damage reset 16:58 - Player 1 turn 2, Ready cards and draw 1 from each deck 17:30 - Playing a Star Song with an effect 18:02 - Searching the deck 18:53 - Swapping out Musicians for higher power 20:43 - Paying resource for a Musician effect in Main phase 21:24 - Swapping out Non-Musicians for higher power 22:18 - Closing message

The most short and impactful episode yet, finally announcing the full roll-out of the LovAnaverse as a Musical Storytelling Trading Card Game! Beyond the first couple of minutes, this 15 minute episode features a PowerPoint presentation that takes you through everything you need to know about the LovAnaverse, as well as how to get involved in it. From explaining the base concept of musical magic, to the RPG nature of character creation, members of the Love Anarchy Collective can bring in their own music & storytelling to arenas across the multiverse. This video also features a detailed view of exactly what the product & media will look like, from compilation albums & rock operas, to companion books inspired by comics, graphic novels & pulp fiction. But at the centre of it all is something which has never been revealed before... And that is the LovAnaverse Trading Card Game - a unique TCG which allows players to form their own band and battle others in an epic showdown of musical magic. We're so excited to finally be rolling this out and you can get a first look at the product, cards & game play during this presentation. We are aiming to roll out set 1 in the first half of this year and there are a very limited number of slots still available for members of the Love Anarchy Collective to be featured. So if you're interested in getting involved as a creator, be sure to fill out the form asap at: https://loveanarchy.co/lovanaverse-creators - alternatively you can send us an email at info@loveanarchy.co.uk This is a watershed moment and things will be ramping up a lot from here. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this episode! WJR ❤️ ~ For all other Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog, etc - go here ~ Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 02:04 - Overview of LovAnaverse 04:14 - Product & Media 06:30 - Trading Card Game 11:11 - How to Get Involved 14:09 - Closing / Coming Up

On this episode I am joined by guitarist/vocalist, PR agent & heavy metal doctor to be - Holly Frances Royle of Disconnected Souls. Holly is a multi-talented individual with many facets to what she does, which made for a very interesting conversation indeed! We happened to catch her at an especially great time though, off the back of the debut album release from her band Disconnected Souls, Fragments of Consciousness - an emphatic Cinematic Metal record with elements of Industrial, Gothic & Modern Metal at it's core. As well as delving into all things Disconnected Souls, we also got to chat about Holly's other projects, including her side project Sensory Enigma and her work in metal music PR with both C Squared & Deviate PR. An especially intriguing topic is the PHD Holly is currently undertaking in Heavy Metal - with a fascinating angle studying the humanities of the culture, with a special focus on equality. All of these great topics, alongside the usual bits about Holly's story & musical journey made for a thoroughly enjoyable conversation on my end. I hope you enjoy listening to it just as much! WJR ❤️ ~ Check out Holly's band Disconnected Souls here & check out Holly's other links here  For all other Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog, etc - go here ~ Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 01:04 - Overview 02:14 - Disconnected Souls Sound 05:30 - Collaborative Writing 09:20 - The Wandering Spirit Concept 13:41 - Politics, Creativity & Development 17:11 - Writing & Production Process 27:50 - The Bands Story & Playing Live 31:43 - How Holly Found Her Voice 35:14 - Sensory Enigma & Other Projects 38:10 - Musical Journey & Influences 48:39 - Holly's Relationship With Guitar 54:29 - Heavy Metal PHD & Equality in the Culture 01:22:22 - Music PR, C Squared & Deviate PR 01:28:20 - Holly's Ideal Future 01:32:20 - Advice to Musicians & Creators

On this episode I am joined by composer, solo artist & mastermind behind the Golden World Archive metal opera series, William Khan. Will is a fantastic musician and storyteller from Vigo, in the north of Spain, working as a composer & producer especially adept in the field of orchestration. As such, Will spends a lot of his time in the field of Soundtrack composing, for media such as film & video games. But as a metalhead at heart, he is naturally drawn to the grandiosity of Symphonic Metal. Whether it be in his purely orchestral music, or his larger than life metal, a key theme that ties together his approach is an unrelenting passion for storytelling. So naturally, inspired by the likes of Ayreon, Will chose the format of the Rock/Metal Opera for his magnum opus: Golden World Archive. A project with it's own rich universe of lore featuring a diverse cast of talented performers, including the likes of Pete Rawcliffe, Archie Caine & Laura Maz. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to delve deep into all of these topics with Will in the podcast and I hope you enjoy listening :) WJR ❤️  ~ Be sure to check out Will's work here For all other Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog, etc - go here ~ Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 02:00 - Overview of Will & His Projects 11:29 - Composing Soundtracks for Film & Video Games 23:50 - Musical Storytelling & Rock/Metal Opera 29:07 - How to Compose a Metal Opera / The Process of Golden World Archive 59:02 - Will's Musical Journey & Influences 1:26:43 - Will's Interests Outside of Music / Storytelling, Art & Video Games 1:32:08 - What's Coming Up From Will / The LovAnaverse Approach 1:42:20 - Final Thoughts & Closing Sentiments

On this episode I am joined by Frontman of the Fantasy Prog Band Azure, and newly published author, Mr. Chris Sampson - who joins me from Brighton, UK. Chris is a phenomenally talented and creative individual who's band I have been following for many years now. Not only is he a virtuosic vocalist with an extraordinary mind for music, he is especially adept in the coveted craft of musical storytelling. Nothing demonstrates this more than the release of his brand new novel - Path of the Azdinist: Lu - which expands upon a story told across two tracks from the last Azure album (Ameotoko I & II). This story, and many others from the catalogue of Azure, are based in the fictional fantasy world of Kraj - which Chris and the band initially created for a few songs and has since become an integral worldbuilding project with an astounding level of depth. Naturally, I enjoyed nothing more than the chance to get to delve into such depth with Chris here about perhaps my favourite thing of all, the art of musical storytelling. He gave us not only a wonderful insight into the lore of Azure, Lu & Kraj - but also practical advice, tools and insight to his process which would benefit anyone interested in the topic. I thoroughly enjoyed this chat and hope that you do too! WJR ❤️ ~ You can check out Chris and Azure's links here For all other Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog, etc - go here ~ Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 01:16 - Overview of Chris & Azure 03:45 - Prog Discussion & The Sound of Azure 16:55 - Musical Storytelling, Lore & Writing a Novel 29:20 - The Story of Chris' Book - Path of the Azdinist: Lu 39:14 - The Role of Artwork In Music & Storytelling 52:07 - Worldbuilding & How Chris Approaches Musical Storytelling 01:20:20 - How Chris First Got Into Music & Fantasy 01:23:25 - The Art of Musical Theatre 01:38:52 - Closing Sentiments

On this episode I am joined once again by the enigmatic Mr. Ben Sebastian, extreme metal musician, reviewer & the newly found father of Face Ripper Records! It's such a pleasure to have Ben as the first ever return guest on the podcast and my has he been busy since we last spoke on episode 9, with his passion and drive for providing a platform to support up and coming metal bands evolving all the way from a podcast into a record label. Face Ripper Records has barely been alive a month at the time of recording and what Ben has managed to achieve in this time is truly extraordinary, with the label already boasting 17 artists on it's roster, momentum is well and truly on their side. Ben's community centered ethos is the driving force behind the initiative, which operates more as a not-for-profit hub to support artists than it does a traditional record label. Artist's retain 100% ownership of their work and revenue and may come and go as they please. It's been such an honor to be even just on the periphery of this, helping Ben build out his Face Ripper Records website/funnel ecosystem on our Love Anarchy Entrepreneur marketing platform. He's done phenomenally well with it in such a short amount of time, so naturally I encourage you to check out the website and sign up to get your free label sampler at faceripperrecords.com 🤘 In the meantime, check out the episode! We delved deep into the role of record labels in this day and age, but also, naturally a lot about the underlying philosophy and ethos of it all. Hopefully a lot there for you to find value in. Enjoy! WJR ❤️ ~ Check out Face Ripper Records, sign up and get you free sampler here For all other Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog, etc - go here ~ Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 01:10 - Overview of Ben & Face Ripper Records 07:40 - Mental Health & Community In Music 20:10 - Music Industry, Record Labels & Creating Community 57:50 - Ben's Marketing Strategy & Experience With Our LAE Software Service 01:11:55 - Ben's Solo Music 01:15:48 - Closing Sentiments

On this episode I am joined by multi-faceted metal maestro Mr. Tom De Wit - frontman of the Progressive Metal band Dreamwalkers Inc, head of the not-for-profit Record Label Layered Reality Productions, and a prolific solo artist under the moniker of TDW. Tom joins us from his home studio in the Netherlands to delve deep into all manner of topics, not only in relation to his work, but throughout the music industry and beyond. It's an exciting time to catch him, fresh off the back of the release of the brand new Dreamwalkers Inc album 'The First Tragedy of Klahera' - a huge double disc concept album with immense scale & phenomenal execution. As such, I got to go deep with Tom about one of my favourite topics - musical storytelling - in which he really gave an absolute masterclass about how to approach it. Not only did he break down his frameworks for writing & producing such a record, he also spoke in great depth about how to collaborate with others, with a special focus on doing so remotely. This was followed by fantastic discussions on music production, record labels, and of course Tom's musical journey. We finished off with a very moving section about self-reflection, mental health, lessons & philosophy. An epic episode for sure, I personally got a lot of takeaways from this one, and I hope that you do too. Enjoy! WJR ❤️ You can check out Tom's solo work here the band here & the label here  ~ You can check out Ramage Inc's links here For all other Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog, etc - go here ~ Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 05:22 - Overview of Tom & His Projects 09:51 - Tom's Musical Style 16:02 - The Creative Vision of Dreamwalkers Inc 23:12 - Musical Storytelling & The Concept of Klahera 34:11 - Remote Collaboration Masterclass 56:21 - Writing/Production Process & Discussion 1:04:53 - Mixing & Mastering Discussion 1:23:20 - Layered Reality Productions (Tom's Label) 1:40:00 - Tom's Musical Journey 1:48:03 - Relationship to Playing Live 1:53:52 - Self Reflection, Lessons & Philosophy

On this episode I am joined by the multi-talented Scottish musician Bryan Ramage, of the Progressive Metal band Ramage Inc 🤘 Bryan describes himself first and foremost as a producer, working out of his purpose built studio, recording, mixing & mastering everything himself. As well as being phenomenally skilled in this department, Bryan is also an exceptional vocalist, guitarist & songwriter. The band, Ramage Inc, initially began as a solo project - releasing the debut album 'Universe' all the way back in 2004. After picking up some traction online, Bryan decided to form a proper line-up for the band, which has been definitive ever since - journeying through many albums, tours & notable appearances at the likes of ProgPower & Bloodstock Festival. The latest addition to this immense catalogue is none other than the brand new studio album 'Humanity Has Failed' - in which the band have seriously kicked things up to a whole other level of dark, sophisticated & epic. Absolutely not to be missed by fans of Devin Townsend - who's pronounced influence blends with tones of alt-rock, as well as influences such as Soundgarden & Gojira. It's quite the sonic cocktail indeed! Dealing with themes of Misanthropy, fueled by the cathartic purging of dark energy during the pandemic, Humanity Has Failed is a hard hitting record that will take you to the depths. But it is not without hope, & the duality makes for a truly special listening experience. Check it out, alongside this podcast of course, and let us know what you think :) WJR ❤️ ~ You can check out Ramage Inc's links here For all other Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog, etc - go here ~ Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 01:02 - Overview of Bryan & Ramage Inc 02:00 - The Bands Sound & Influences 08:15 - The History of Ramage Inc 20:32 - Lyrical Themes & Musical Expression 31:23 - Bryan's Writing & Production Process 44:17 - Bryan's Studio, Mixing & Drums With Dimmu Borgir's Kit 01:00:20 - Producing An Album & Massive Vocal Arrangements 01:07:01 - Bryan's Approach to Producing Other Bands 01:11:16 - Bryan's Musical Journey 01:26:54 - Music Chat, Devin Townsend, Lady Gaga, Metal & Beyond 01:37:42 - What's Next for Bryan & Ramage Inc 01:38:33 - Bryan's Kraken Guitar Tone & Navigating a Dense Mix 01:46:35 - Bryan's Advice to Other Musicians 01:47:49 - Closing Sentiments

On this episode I am joined by guitarist & songwriter of the Symphonic Metalcore band Crown Solace, Valentyn Tkach 🤘❤️ Val is a fantastic musician based up in Aberdeen, Scotland and the driving force behind the band which he founded during lock down in 2020, pioneering a unique modern metal approach to the traditional Symphonic Metal sound. The band are on a hot streak, having just released their debut EP 'Animus' on August 3rd - an incredible 5 track record you simply cannot miss! Of course featuring fellow band members Callum Hutchinson on Bass, Menzies Johnson on Drums, and sensational sopranist Pete Rawcliffe on vocals. We also got to chat about Val's musical journey, all the way from playing the balalaika as a child for a UK Russian folk orchestra to his teenage years playing in Metalcore bands. There are certainly some unique aspects to his story that were fun to delve into! Val is also a really switched on guy that runs his own businesses, having also studied business & economics at university. This lead to a really great chat about many aspects of the music business, with a lot of valuable takeaways for people looking to get into the industry. Overall it was a lot fun chatting with Val and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :) WJR ❤️ You can check out Crown Solace links here: https://linktr.ee/crownsolace For all Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog & services: https://flow.page/loveanarchy Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 01:11 - Overview of Val & Crown Solace 03:39 - The Sound & Influences of Crown Solace 10:02 - The Bands Writing & Production Process 24:37 - Preparing to Play Live 28:07 - Val's Musical Journey 47:55 - Music Business Talk / Val's Career 1:13:25 - Spotify & the Streaming Industry 1:27:10 - Interests Outside of Music 1:30:55 - Closing Sentiments Love Anarchy Links: https://flow.page/loveanarchy

On this episode I am joined by sullen alternative metallers Chase & Ben of The Lucidia Project, a highly emotive new metal band hailing from Fargo, North Dakota in the USA. The title of this episode "Shining a Light on Darkness" reflects the bands key theme of duality, as they delve into the depths of the human condition, creating music as a therapeutic form of catharsis for both themselves and their listeners. The heavy emotional topics largely center around dealing with trauma, in which the ultimate purpose of the music is healing - letting the listener know that it is okay to feel and process that emotion. This is music for the people that feel like nobody hears them, the outcasts and the misunderstood. Musically this is reflected by a bittersweet sound, piano driven melodic metal blending Dark Metal influences such as Evanescence, Katatonia & Paradise Lost with 90's Singer-Songwriters such as Tori Amos. Alternative Rock & Metal has it's place in the mix too and both Chase & Ben interestingly come from Classical music backgrounds. I loved getting to delve into these topics with the guys, alongside the usual bits about their writing & production process, musical journey's, and life in Fargo, North Dakota. All in all it made for a great episode and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! WJR ❤️ ~ Check out The Lucidia Project's links here For all other Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog, etc - go here ~ Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 01:20 - Overview of The Lucidia Project 03:30 - The Duality of the Bands Sound & Themes 05:20 - The Bands Writing Process 14:20 - How The Lucidia Project Came Together 19:07 - The Bands Production Process 22:04 - The Bands Development & Fighting Perfectionism 30:25 - Musical Influences 37:16 - Heavy Emotional Topics / Chase's Artistic Mission 44:20 - Chase's Musical Journey 57:46 - Ben's Musical Journey 01:07:09 - Chase's Life Outside of Music 01:11:13 - Ben's Life Outside of Music 01:14:45 - Fargo, North Dakota 01:17:23 - The Bands Plans Moving Forward 01:20:57 - Final Thoughts & Closing Sentiments

Welcome back to a very special episode of Creating A Universe - a rare solo episode designed to help the musicians, artists & creative entrepreneurs among us to revolutionise our creative careers! This short, solo episode offers something of a crash course, teaching you the 5 key pillars you need to build & monetize a fan base online. And we're not just talking about the usual stuff either... I've really looked to go straight for the jugular here and focus on the most impactful aspect that no one is talking about: Creating a marketing funnel which will nurture a highly targeted audience, introducing them to your work with a unique and personalised experience, then converting them into a paying customer and a loyal fan. All on auto-pilot, no less! This is the most cost effective, measurable & scalable approach out there - yet the majority of us creators seem to be missing a trick. So I put this together to share with you the most impactful strategy, alongside an overview of each of the most important aspects of your business. Naturally I also couldn't help myself but get a little philosophical about the duality of Creative Entrepreneurship, and why I believe it represents the balance we all need in order to find success... And of course the episode tops off with 2 major announcements! 1) The Free Course which goes into much more depth on this topic. I spent months working on this and really feel it's the best free resource out there! 2) The unveiling of our brand new branch: Love Anarchy Entrepreneur. A digital marketing agency offering a bespoke software service for musicians, artists & creative entrepreneurs. Providing all the tools, knowledge & support you need to succeed in your creative career. You can check out both of these things by going to e.loveanarchy.co - or checking out the link in our bio. Be sure to check out the podcast for more info! Enjoy :) WJR ❤️ ~ Check out Love Anarchy Entrepreneur & The Free Course here For all other Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog, etc - go here ~ Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 03:16 - First Announcement: The Free Course 05:35 - Second Announcement: Love Anarchy Entrepreneur 07:57 - The Philosophy of Creative Entrepreneurship 12:40 - The 5 Pillars of Your Online Creative Business: 12:50 - Pillar 1: Why You Need a Website 14:22 - Pillar 2: Why You Need a Shop 15:35 - Pillar 3: Briefly Touching on Social Media 16:13 - Pillar 4: The Revolution of Digital Advertising 20:42 - Pillar 5: Funnels & Automation - The Ultimate Secret Weapon 30:39 - Summary & Closing Sentiments

On this episode I am joined by holistic guitar virtuoso Mr. Chris Johnson, instrumental guitarist under The Tiger Loves Jazz & host of the Toned and Toneful Podcast ❤️ Chris is a wonderful musician and all around human being hailing from sunny California. I must say that I'm personally a huge fan of his podcast Toned and Toneful, and as such this episode feels like a long time coming! Chris has largely established himself in the world of boutique guitars, working for brands such as Mayones & Anderson, most prominently performing as an artist rep at a lot of the NAMM shows. His solo music has been a long time coming, but for a taste of what Chris can do, I hugely encourage you to check out Silver Skin by Oceans In Silhouette - the video on YouTube is an especially wonderful showcase of the incredible musicality of Chris & his good friend Ben McSherry. As well as being a top tier dynamic, emotive & passionate guitar player - Chris is an all round student of life, taking a special interest in topics such as health, spirituality & even body building! His Toned and Toneful podcast provides a series of topical meditations covering holistic topics geared specifically towards musicians and creatives. From the likes of dealing with perfectionism to finding your tribe, telling your story to finding content and happiness in life. I'm a huge fan of the show and have personally found it to be an immensely valuable & insightful resource. Chris' positive energy and community ethos is something infinitely inspiring to me and so it was such a pleasure to get to have him on the show. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did :) WJR ❤️ You can check out Chris  @TheTigerLovesJazz  & the Toned & Toneful Podcast  @tonedandtoneful  For all Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog & services: https://flow.page/loveanarchy Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 01:04 - Overview of what Chris does 02:22 - Chris' approach to playing guitar 08:15 - Chris' musical/guitar journey 18:58 - Chris' musical style 22:41 - Recording & production process 27:43 - Authenticity & being yourself as a musician 33:12 - Music as a means of communication / connecting with your tribe 46:24 - Channeling music & the death of ego 57:01 - Letting go of the need to control / communication & ego continued 01:07:34 - The Toned and Toneful Podcast / holistic discussion 01:39:29 - Diet, health, being content with life 01:46:50 - Chris' routine / day to day life 02:05:23 - The upcoming EP & closing sentiments Love Anarchy Links: https://flow.page/loveanarchy

On this episode I am joined by both Scarlette & Stanstle of the US Alternative Progressive Metal Band TimeScar 🤘 The dual fronted band hailing from Colorado boast a uniquely heavy & melodic sound, one which feels somewhat rooted in Alternative Metal, but with lots of Progressive elements - most notably the frequent use of odd time signatures. There are also shades of Metalcore & Melodic Death Metal in there, reminiscent of bands like In Flames, sprinkled with a touch of the Gothic/Symphonic sensibility of Within Temptation & Lacuna Coil. Overall it makes for a very compelling and interesting sound that they have made very much their own over an excellent handful of singles released so far - not to mention their fantastic green screen music videos which they make themselves! What's most admirable to me from getting to chat with these guys is the absolutely wonderful sense of teamwork & comradery they have with each other. It's really like a family :) Even outside of rehearsing 3 or 4 times a week, they're going to gigs together, or hitting the gym. These guys are seriously dedicated and the chemistry between them is so inspiring to see! TimeScar are really championing a DIY approach and each member wears a lot of hats. I think there's a lot we can all take from these guys about how to approach being in a band, and it was such a pleasure to uncover some of that chatting with them in this episode. I hope you enjoy! WJR ❤️ You can check out TimeScar's Links here For all Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog & services - go here Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 01:07 - Overview of Stanstle, Scarlette & TimeScar 03:05 - TimeScar's Sound & Influences 31:40 - Writing & Production Process 45:00 - Making DIY Music Videos with CG 52:39 - How TimeScar Got Together & The Band Dynamic 01:07:48 - Managing The Challenge of Odd Time 01:12:34 - Scarlette's Bass Journey 01:21:01 - Stanstle's Approach to Music 01:28:00 - Stanstle's Musical Journey 01:35:30 - Scarlette's Musical Journey 01:44:40 - Playing Live 01:49:00 - Interests Outside of Music 01:50:24 - Final Thoughts & Closing Sentiments

On this episode I am joined by the multi-faceted Canadian metalhead, Mr. Tom McKay - a vocalist multi-instrumentalist and host of The Metal Robot Podcast & Reviews. Tom is a lively character and a natural comedian, such an entertaining guy to listen to and a master of cartoon worthy voices. It's no surprise that he has a career in Radio, which bleeds in lovingly to his bombastic production for both The Metal Robot Podcast & Reviews. I've been following Tom for a while and absolutely love the work he does with The Metal Robot. He's also got to chat to a fair few of our guests from this show also, cut together with some really awesome segments, skits & radio style effects and jingles. It's awesome! But as well as being a fantastic content creator and supporter of the metal community, Tom is an incredible vocalist and musician himself, most prominently releasing his solo EP 'Call to the Dæmon Sultan' in 2022. The record features the likes of Nathan Gross & Lindsay Schoolcraft and is a sort of Blackened Symphonic Death Metal kind of sound with melodic sensibility - hugely recommended for fans of Opeth! Tom has also featured on other projects, most prominently those of my friend & collaborator Guilherme Adriano, such as  @homoiousios  &  @TheGeeJ  - in which he has contributed some seriously awesome guttural vocals 🤘 We got to chat about all this and lots more, from the crossover of metal music & video games, to the darkness of living with ADHD. All in all it made for a fascinating episode and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! WJR ❤️ You can check out Tom's Links here For all Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog & services - go here Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 01:11 - Overview of Tom & his projects 03:55 - Tom's Solo Project / Musical Style 12:15 - How Tom became a metalhead 19:52 - Avenged Sevenfold / Metal & Video Games 33:58 - How Tom got into creating his own music 37:45 - The Metal Robot & Content Creation (Gaming/Reaction Channels, YouTubers, Ethics, Fair Use, Content Consumers & more). 58:54 - Expanding into a Podcast / How to Manage the Workload 1:10:55 - Tom's Radio Career & How it Inspires His Content 1:29:49 - Tom's Harsh Vocals 1:32:36 - Call to the Dæmon Sultan (EP) & The Darkness of ADHD 1:50:06 - The Future, Wrapping Up & Closing Sentiments

On this episode I am joined by both Charlotte and Matt of the US Symphonic Metal Band Terminal Dusk. The band hail from Portland, Oregon and recently released their debut EP 'Marionette' following their first few singles released in 2022 - and with this effort have well and truly established themselves on the scene. Terminal Dusk have a wonderfully accessible Symphonic Metal sound and a tight package. I wasn't surprised to find that the two primary co-creators here like to draw from both metal and pop. Getting to sit down with both Charlotte and Matt was a wonderful experience, it's not often I speak to two people at once and it ended up making for quite a unique and interesting episode! I loved seeing the stark contrast in some ways between the two of them, almost like the sun and the moon 😄 Matt taught me some very interesting things about music production and the tools out there on the market right now, we got to nerd out a bit there and he also shared his great love for the outdoors. Charlotte on the other hand loves geek culture, preferring to stay in with anime & video games. She prefers a non-technical creative approach where she let's the lyrics and melody's flow. Charlotte also shared with us a very unique musical journey that had her singing professionally from the age of 6! Lot's of cool stuff to check out here. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did chatting with these guys :) WJR ❤️ Check out Terminal Dusk's Website here For all Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog & services - go here Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 01:14 - Matt Gives An Overview Of Terminal Dusk 04:12 - Charlotte On How She Came To Join The Band 07:42 - The Sound & Influences Of Terminal Dusk 11:44 - Matt's Part of the Process / Discussion on VST's & AI 21:51 - Charlotte's Part of the Process 25:27 - How Matt & Charlotte Collaborate & The Bands Overall Process 35:46 - What's Next For The Band 37:19 - Charlotte's Musical Journey 45:44 - Matt's Musical Journey 58:33 - Creating Marionette & The Video 01:02:20 - Charlotte's Interests Outside The Band / Discussing Anime 01:08:32 - Matt's Interests Outside The Band 01:15:53 - Closing Thoughts & Final Sentiment

On this episode I am joined by the wonderful Laura Mazard, frontwoman of the French Progressive Symphonic Metal band Oïkoumen. Laura is a truly cultured and creative individual with a great deal of fascinating knowledge to share. This is reflected in the music of Oïkoumen, who released their debut album 'Dystopia' in 2022 - establishing their unique take on Symphonic Metal, one which is quirky, creative & somewhat dabbling in the avant garde. In the episode Laura speaks of creating a 'broken' sound, which reflects the visceral themes of challenging and unstable emotions in their music. It's a fascinating perspective and I truly admire the bands artistic approach with it. Laura also works as an art historian and tour guide in and around Paris, creating all kinds of unique experiences for a diverse range of clientele. A particular specialty of hers is ancient music (medieval, etc) where she also incorporates her singing voice. All of this (and much more!) makes for a fascinating conversation which absolutely flew by for me! I certainly thoroughly enjoyed it myself and hope that you do listening to it too :) WJR ❤️ Check out Oïkoumen's links here For all Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog & services - go here Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 01:04 - The name Oïkoumen 02:45 - Overview of Laura & her projects 04:15 - Everything Oïkoumen (music, creative process, etc) 43:00 - Nightwish segue into Laura's musical journey 01:02:56 - Laura's career as an art historian & tour guide 01:13:39 - Paris, London, travelling & video games 01:29:51 - Closing thoughts & final sentiments

On this episode I am joined by the wonderful & enigmatic Jonesy AKA Shred Rogers, a splendidly diverse and colourful solo artist & guitarist of the Cyber Metal band A Dark Halo. Jonesy's music spans quite the spectrum - from dark and brooding to stupendously absurd. Now I don't know about you, but I have to admire that a lot! Perhaps most prominently as a solo artist with Shred Rogers, Jonesy is known for his extreme metal renditions of nursery rhymes. Yes, you heard me right, nursery rhymes!! Including such classics as Baa Baa Black Sheep & Wheels on the Bus 😆 You have to hear these as they are really quite entertaining. However, he has quite a unique approach with it, more weaving the nursery rhymes into otherwise fantastic original metal tracks - fusing elements of death metal, black metal, thrash & prog. This ties into Jonesy's wonderful cause to bring joy and lightness to the world, in which he approach's music very much as a gift to others. The nursery rhymes themselves reflect his devoted passion for being a foster father, which is testament to the kind and caring person that he is. As well as these fun renditions, Shred Rogers also releases guitar driven instrumental music, which has a deep emotion to it. Something I really enjoyed hearing him talk about in the episode. But the primary contrast is with his Cyber Metal band A Dark Halo - who comparatively have a very 'serious' style indeed. A kind of dark and heavy industrial metal style, the band released their first album Catalyst way back in 2006 - which took on a cult like status following the inclusion of 2 singles on the video game 'WWE Day of Reckoning 2'. This made for a very unique and interesting story in the episode about how Jonesy had been practically oblivious to just how much of an impact this album had. Thus, after a long hiatus, Jonesy and co-founder Dave Lowmiller re-formed the band with a fresh line up. They have since returned with a huge sound, boasting a line-up which revitalizes the band with a great deal of fresh energy. We've caught them at such an exciting time too, as their new album 'Omnibus One' has just dropped on July 14th '23. I urge you to go and check it out! We also had a massive nerd-out about our favourite music & discographies! Overall it was a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did :) WJR ❤️ Check out the Shred Rogers Website here & links for A Dark Halo here For all Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog & services - go here Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 01:04 - Overview of Jonesy and his projects (focus on Shred Rogers) 22:53 - The story of A Dark Halo 40:49 - Nerding out about our favourite music & talking discographies. 01:03:30 - How Jonesy first got into music & tying his musical journey together. 01:12:38 - Omnibus One, the new album by A Dark Halo. 01:15:55 - Closing thoughts & final sentiments.

On this episode I am joined by the wonderful Judith Ehreke - a lyric mezzo soprano vocalist from Germany and front-woman of the Melodic Symphonic Metal band 'Unsoulicited'. The band recently released their debut album 'Reflections' on March 31st 2023 - which features Judith's voice alongside other star performers such as Herbie Langhans. It's a wonderful journey of an album, for the most part very melodic and accessible, often leaning more towards rock than metal. However it does have it's harsh & heavy moments, all in all making for a very nice dynamic on the album. Judith's very pure and theatrical vocal takes centre stage and she really has such a wonderful tone to her voice! We spoke all about vocals, including the healing powers of singing, as well as her musical journey, the band & the fantastic singing community she is also a part of. All this and so much more! It was a real pleasure to chat with Judith and I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did :) WJR ❤️ Follow Judith on Instagram @niamhgoldenhair & check out the Unsoulicited Website here For all Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog & services - go here Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 02:05 - Meet Judith 03:04 - About Unsoulicited 19:25 - Finding A Sound 23:09 - Judith's Musical Journey 27:52 - Vocal Therapy 34:52 - Judith's Musical Journey (Cont'd) 48:55 - Songwriting Process 54:29 - Judith's Musical Journey (Cont'd) 1:06:52 - Final Thoughts

On this episode I am joined by the sensational Paraguayan metal star Mr. Adrian Benegas - fresh off the back of his latest release 'Arcanum', a mind blowing concept album featuring such powerhouse performers as Ronnie Romero & Timo Somers. Adrian is a fascinating individual, a natural creative spirit with a wild imagination and flair for the dramatic. His immense capacity for conjuring musical worlds of grandeur and mythos manifests itself into truly some of the most compelling music throughout the landscape of modern metal. Discussing Adrian's approach in this episode was a particularly enthralling experience, as he very much approaches creating as a conduit, entering a flow state where he shuts off his rational mind and purely channels the creative impulse that comes through him. Of course later he can approach it more rationally in the crafting stage, as he refines the piece. But the initial idea comes from a trance like state in which he is completely detached. The moment can strike at any time and he lives in service to it. We also discussed lots of other great topics, such as intertwining personal narratives in metaphorical storytelling, what it's like for Adrian to work with his hero's (and some of the biggest names in the space), what life and the metal scene is like in Paraguay, and of course Adrian's musical journey from beginning up until now.  This was a truly enjoyable episode for me and I hope you get as much enjoyment out of listening. Be sure to let us know what you think! WJR ❤️ Check out Adrian's website here: https://adrianbenegas.com/ For all Love Anarchy links including socials, music, blog & services: https://flow.page/loveanarchy Timestamps: 00:33 - Introduction & Synopsis 05:07 - Meet Adrian 08:52 - The Songwriting Process 35:08 - The Flow State 41:52 - Origin Stories 48:35 - Music Therapy 57:13 - Adrian's Musical Journey 1:27:44 - Final Thoughts Love Anarchy Links: https://flow.page/loveanarchy