Eddie Trunk about Janick Gers

Forostar

Forostar

Ancient Mariner
From his website:

05-Apr-09Maiden in FL, Metallica @ The Hall, TMS, HUGE update!

4/5/09: Wow, what a week. I'll do my best to update what I can here but a bit pressed for time as I am home for 24 hours then headed to LA for the Anvil premiere Tuesday and some meetings. Spent this past Tuesday through Friday in Florida where I caught up with some friends and enjoyed the weather. Stayed at the Hard Rock casino in Hollywood a couple days. Great place but I got killed playing Blackjack! Even worse the only casino I have ever visited in my life that charged players for drinks! Imagine playing $25 a hand and getting killed, then ordering a club soda (YES club soda!) and paying $3! Must be nice to be the only blackjack in the state, lame! Visited the new Piazza estate, took a spin on his boat, and we hit the Maiden show Thursday night. Final show of the bands tour and it was amazing. The arena was huge and not an empty seat anywhere. Many came from all over to see the old school show one last time. Some changes to the set that were awesome. I freaked when they did Phantom Of The Opera and Children Of The Damned! As much as I love Maiden I must state what has been so obvious to so many for so long. Nobody can figure out why the band tolerates Janick Gers performance style. Don't know the man and I hear he is a nice guy, but he behaves like he is auditioning for Dancing With The Stars on stage and not playing guitar in Maiden. Not even sure what he is doing. Can not possibly be turned up in the mix much of the time. I know so many that have said the same thing. Its just not right for Maiden, especially with Adrian and Dave in classic mode on stage. I'm sure he's talented and a good guy, but it's way over the top and painful to watch that side of the stage. I love some of the things he has written with Maiden and I'm not for a minute saying he should be out of the band, but someone dancing and spinning his guitar just seems so out of place in Maiden. Otherwise great show and great tour from the metal legends. After a break the plan is a new Maiden album and tour to feature that album next year. Of course the film Flight 666, which I hear is great, is coming soon to theaters, DVD and VH1. Nicko McBrain on live this Friday on Q104 show.

Especially the sentences that I put in bold angers me. I know who he is, I have heard him doing several interviews with the band. I thought he was one of the few American DJ's who always seemed to understand Maiden, know Maiden. After being Mr. Niceguy for years (he must know that Janick is in the band for almost 20 years!), he now suddenly comes up with this!

How on earth can such an experienced DJ be so ignorant to insinuate that this is the opinion of all Iron Maiden fans? I can forgive him that he doesn't have the brains to understand it, or that he talks to non-representative nitwits, who are stuck in the 80's, but I find it very lame that he doesn't even try to figure it out himself.
Doesn't he have the guts to ask the band themselves? No, he rather blogs it on his website instead.

What's even more annoying, I hear he is in Flight 666, so he certainly had the opportunity to have a nice chat with someone of the band about it. Maybe he didn't want his face deleted from the film.

This next Friday Nicko will be in his radioshow, so I am curious if the subject will be brought up again.
 
I agree that sometimes Janick's a bit too crazy.  I also think he should go to wireless guitars  :bigsmile:

But, one cannot reckon his full musical and spiritual contribution to the band.  When Maiden was in their darkest hour, he came in to replace a legendary guitarist.  Throughout the (for Steve) musically devoid 90s, he wrote Maiden's best songs.  He reenergized Dave and helped the band keep going.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Forostar, could you post the link to the Nicko interview when it gets published on the web, Friday or whenever? Should be interesting if they bring up the subject... Thanks!
 
This is the first I ever heard of Eddie Trunk, so...
 
Wow, that's just not cool. I've seen Eddie on TMS a couple of times. He always seemed like a cool guy. But reading this I can't help to feel like he's showing blatant disrespect for not only Janick, but all of Maiden. And really, to post it just three days before a member of the band comes not the show. That's just not cool. :down:
 
@Perun:
And we all know Janick. That says enough indeed, mate.
:)

Still it pissed me off, and I wonder if Nicko will pay attention to it.
 
Eh, isn't Eddie Trunk the guy who interviewed Sharon and Ozzy about Eggfest? He didn't impress me that time around so I'm not really surprised he's said something as dumb as this.
 
Ardius said:
Eh, isn't Eddie Trunk the guy who interviewed Sharon and Ozzy about Eggfest? He didn't impress me that time around so I'm not really surprised he's said something as dumb as this.
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I think you're thinking of Howard Stern.

Bruce was on the Eddie Trunk show too last March I believe.
 
Stern is more likely. Trunk is usually much more focused on the music, not the celebrity. I doubt he'd care about interviewing Sharon.

Plus, Ozzy and Sharon have appeared together on Stern's show multiple times ... including last week, plugging their new TV show. I caught it by random chance, since it was the first time I listened to Stern in months.
 
The only thing Eddie Trunk, whoever the fuck he is, got right was that Janick is a nice guy. I have a friend who lives near him in the Teeside area of the Northeast of England. He told me Jan still goes to the local, stands at the bar, and no-one would know he is a member of one of the worlds biggest bands and probably worth millions. He is a down to earth guy who hasnt lost touch with his roots.

What has Eddie the fuckwit Trunk got wrong? Everything else basically. Yeah Jan dances about, chucks his guitar in the air, etc etc but dont Bruce and Steve show a similar kind of energy on stage? If we had three guitarists who all did the same on stage it would be pretty boring so Jan adds an extra dimension and I wouldnt want him to change for the world.

And no Eddie my head is up my fuckin arse Trunk everybody doesnt wonder why Jan is still in the band. Only a mindless bunch of dimwitted fuckin minority morons think that.

'Y aye Janny, your'e a fuckin canny fucker. keep up the good work man
 
Back in the Village said:
The only thing Eddie Trunk, whoever the fuck he is ... Eddie the fuckwit Trunk ... Eddie my head is up my fuckin arse Trunk
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Alright, I'm finally sick of this.

It seems a fair number of people here have no idea who Eddie Trunk is. Fair enough: I gather he isn't known much outside of the US. However: insulting someone you know nothing about is a dumbass move.

Eddie Trunk is one of the greatest champions supporting heavy metal in the mainstream media. He is virtually the only person (in the USA) out there presenting metal as intelligent and artistic music to a wide audience.

So he expressed one opinion which we disagree with. He's entitled to that opinion. Aside from that, the man is a goddamn hero. He spent years clawing his way up in the radio world, and now that he has some pull, he is using all his energy to promote metal in the mainstream media.

So all you Trunk-haters, shut the fuck up. Learn a little about the man before you condemn him.
How about some facts from Wikipedia?

Boldface is my emphasis.

From a friend, Trunk learned of a pirate radio station that was illegally broadcasting from someone's basement. Trunk went over and played a few records and did a few shows. He made some tapes that were not all that impressive and showed them to WDHA. His enthusiasm along with the increased popularity of the metal genre earned him an invitation to "hang out" at WDHA. After about of year of working at the station as an unpaid intern, he finally convinced management to do a hardrock/metal specialty show. For ten years he worked part time and eventually hosted, produced and programmed it.

Around 1986, Trunk became an employee of Megaforce Records which had signed both Metallica and Anthrax. He became Vice President of the company at 25 years old. During that time he earned executive producer credit on some works from the following bands: Anthrax, Raven, TT Quick, Manowar, Overkill, King's X, Prophet, Icon and Ace Frehley. In fact, Eddie was the main driving force behind reviving Ace Frehley's career, convincing Johnny Z to sign Ace to a solo deal.

In 1994, Trunk devoted himself to radio full time and was hired by a radio station called Pure Rock Q104.3 in New York. He wanted to do a metal show but was not permitted to do so because there were rumors that the station was going to be sold. These rumors proved true and the station was sold a year into Trunk's career there. During the last shift of the station, Trunk abandoned the playlist and played requests. Phone lines were jammed and the last show was a great success, but many thought that it would be the end as Pure Rock Q104.3 became Classic Q104.3. Quite the opposite was true, the new management were so impressed that they allowed Eddie to stay. He spent two years there and became incredibly popular.

Around 1997, WNEW FM was looking to become a more "heavy" station and move away from their classic rock look. Trunk was one of the first hired because of his experience and willingness to be a team player. He immediately wanted to do a metal show like the one he had with WDHA and eventually Saturday Night Rocks was born. Unfortunately, Eddie had to compromise and let the station choose most of the music. Then WNEW made a drastic change into talk radio and Eddie's show was one of the only ones retained. Eddie Trunk was able to program his own show after the format flipped and was the only music show on an all talk radio station that featured the Opie and Anthony and Ron and Fez shows. WNEW made a format flip in the early morning hours of January 27, 2003 to a soft-rock station, firing all on-air talent.
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I lived in the NYC area from 1994-1999, and listened to Eddie trunk on Q104.3 very often. Even when he wasn't playing metal, he was talking about it passionately all the freaking time. This man has lived and breathed metal for decades and spent his life promoting it. He should be respected, not vilified.
 
Yeah, SMX is right.

The only thing I'm a bit miffed about is that he openly declared his opinion, and said it was representative of Maiden's fanbase.

Other than that, I listen to his show whenever he has a cool guest (which is often). 
 
GuineaPig said:
I think you're thinking of Howard Stern.

Bruce was on the Eddie Trunk show too last March I believe.
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Ah, my mistake. Then in this case, I'll let it slide but obviously I disagree with the notion that Janick's onstage antics aren't worth anything to the band. Who else was going to get Davey to move (and even H a little bit)!
 
ok,I'll admit I had never heard of MrTrunk. I'd had a couple of beers last night and was pissed off by his comments and basically let rip.

I don't hate the guy, I don't even know him. His opinion on Janick sucks however he is entitled to it. If he is a champion of metal in mainstream radio fairplay to the guy.

I was wrong for my comments I acknowledge that and if any offence was caused it wasn't meant. However telling people to "shut the fuck up" for merely expressing an opinion (even of that opinion was flawed) is just as bad an offence.
 
OK, I'll take SMX's word. Still, his opinion is not very relevant to me, but that's basically because I make up my own opinion about everything anyway.
However, I would like to emphasise a passage in the text that some people seem to have overlooked:

Forostar said:
I love some of the things he has written with Maiden and I'm not for a minute saying he should be out of the band, but someone dancing and spinning his guitar just seems so out of place in Maiden.
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So basically, he's not anti-Janick, he just doesn't like what he is doing onstage.
 
To be honest, an explanation of who the guy is won't make his comments about Janick sound better. He could be the most popular man of this planet, still his approach is very disrespectful towards Janick and Maiden.

It's the way he says it:

..Nobody can figure out why the band tolerates Janick Gers performance style. Don't know the man and I hear he is a nice guy, but he behaves like he is auditioning for Dancing With The Stars on stage and not playing guitar in Maiden. Not even sure what he is doing. Can not possibly be turned up in the mix much of the time. I know so many that have said the same thing. Its just not right for Maiden,...

But I already explained this in my first post.
 
I agree with you, I just wanted to point out what exactly his point is, in case some people may have missed it.
 
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