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My Cold Steel article gets a shout out on MetalTalk

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  My first author article is published in  MetalTalk   Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard It's Not For Everyone

What guitar is best for metal?

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  There is no one guitar for playing heavy metal, but there will be one guitar for you. All you have to do is find it. No one can find it for you, and all other people can do is tell you what works for them. Trouble is, what works for them, won’t necessarily work for you. A starting point is to think about the music you like, and the music you want to play. What guitars do those players use? But that’s really only a starting point. Check out the youtube shootouts between different guitars, consider how different pickups sound. And get yourself to your local music shop, and find out if your chosen guitar actually feels right. But it’s really down to you, and don’t expect to get it right first time, straight away. You’re on a journey of discovery, and it’s actually so changeable that you might find that exact right tone one night, and by the time you come back to your guitar the next morning, it’ll all sound completely different. But none of that matters. Know your guitar, love your guit

Cold Steel on the Rocks is free to download from Amazon

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Cold Steel on the Rocks , the first book in the Cold Steel trilogy, is free to download from Amazon for a limited time. Get your free copy now! When the pirate Blackbeard buried his treasure, he could never have imagined that it would fall to the heavy metal band, Cold Steel, to come looking for it.Cold Steel, high-octane British rockers who came close to legendary status, until the release of their fourth album, when their excesses send them spiralling into terminal decline.Struggling small-time band manager Johnny Faslane, in the right place at the right time, lands the dream job of managing Cold Steel, and then has the seemingly impossible mission of turning the band around.Cold Steel’s singer, Maxwell Diabolo, claims to have a treasure map that he thinks will lead him to Blackbeard’s lost riches. With the band bent on a terrifying path of self-destruction, Johnny wonders if they will even complete the tour, much less get to the Caribbean to embark on a treasure hunt. Against all ex

The more things change, the more they stay the same

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  Abuse in the military is sadly alive and kicking. The dinosaur culture in the military is sadly a long way from becoming extinct. It's Not For Everyone Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard

It's Not For Everyone is free to download from Amazon

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It's Not For Everyone  is free to download from Amazon for a limited time. Get your free copy now. Rick Brindle was a third generation military child. His father and grandfather served their whole lives in the Army, and all he wanted to do was be a soldier. In 1989 he joined the RAF Regiment. But life in the Regiment was a world away from what he thought it would be, and it quickly became toxic. Facing a culture of bullying, beatings, verbal abuse and sexual harassment, the community he wanted to be a part of became more like a prison. Most people around him went along with the abuse. Some agreed with it, some joined in, while the chain of command routinely looked the other way. Set over thirty years ago, this is a story of surviving abuse that still resonates today. It’s Not For Everyone is essential reading for anyone considering a military career. Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, and sometimes sickening, it’s one person’s unprecedented true story of life in the RAF Regiment.

My favourite Deep Purple album

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  For me, Perfect Strangers. I think the album came out sometime in 1984, although I probably didn’t listen to it until 1985. At that time, I was getting into metal, developing my musical identity. While I’d heard of Deep Purple, I’d never heard their stuff, but this album was right up my street. Early to mid eighties rock/metal - call it what you will, genres and categories don’t mean a huge amount to me, all I know is, I loved it. And I loved the look as well. I loved their image, I thought they were just so cool. And yes, I’ve long since discovered their earlier stuff, and I really like all of that too. But for me, this one is their best. Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard It's Not For Everyone

Abuse in the Red Arrows, still going on.

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Abuse victims speak out. Just don't for one second believe it doesn't happen everywhere else in the military. Take it from me, I know. It's Not For Everyone