Metalhead To Head

Mustaine and Warwick reminisce on the times their bands spent touring together in the '90s. Mustaine looks back on the moment in Antrim, Ireland, when his on-stage comments started a riot among the crowd. And Warwick—who was born in Northern Ireland himself—reveals how the turbulence in his home country affected his songwriting.

Luzier shows off his stick-twirling skills, Benante demonstrates some awesome fills on a drum pad and they discuss how drummers can enhance a show from the back of the stage. Luzier even reveals that the years he spent touring and recording with David Lee Roth heavily influenced his stage presence with Korn and the duo trade stories about how they can write and record when "everything revolves around [their children]."

The axe-wielders share a laugh over stories about times their guitar killswitches have accidentally engaged on stage, Heylmun explains Suicide Silence's use of the "bloody chord," and Gus G admits how he overcame his nerves to try out for Ozzy Osbourne's band. On a more serious note, Heylmun delves into the 2012 passing of Suicide Silence frontman Mitch Lucker and how Lucker would have wanted the band to keep on going.

The episode starts off with the two trading licks before launching into a conversation about their favorite instrument. "I didn't even know what a bass was," confesses Ellefson about how he discovered the instrument. Pinnick's recollection goes deeper and harks back to his days growing up in Chicago, listening to blues and early soul music. "The day I remember hearing music, I heard the bass," he says, citing Led Zeppelin and Booker T as a primary influences. Other highlights of the episode include Pinnick revealing plans for King's X to perform Gretchen Goes to Nebraska and getting taught a Megadeth song by Ellefson!

Between showing off their skills, Mendoza and Sheehan get into discussions about how they started playing bass, if they ever question their talent and the moments when they realized they "made it" as musicians. Sheehan tells a memorable story about being on the set of The Tonight Show and reveals there's a new Mr. Big album in the works. Meanwhile, Mendoza shares his plans with Black Star Riders and teases an upcoming solo album.

Both musicians run down their primary influences and talk at length about the specific gear they use to record and while performing on stage. Paul reveals some of the secrets behind how Pantera songs like "Primal Concrete Sledge" and "Becoming" came to fruition. He also fills us in on Hellyeah's plans for the rest of 2014, tells us he's working on a cookbook, touches upon how fans always ask about a Pantera reunion – "I don't want to tarnish that legacy" – and delves into his brother's status as a metal legend.

While discussing their writing styles and how Sarzo came around to the idea of joining Ozzy Osbourne's band, the two metal greats found a moment to reflect on their own fandom of legendary bassists. "I've been a fan longer than I've been a professional musician," Sarzo notes, "and I'll never lose that." The duo take turns passing a bass back and forth and experimenting with Sarzo's insane pedel effects, creating gnarly tones and sounds as Bello manages to blow his own mind.

Lopez tells Choi about the recording of Suicide Silence's most recent album, where the group went to work with producer Steve Evetts. He got to use over 50 different microphones in the drum room to create crazy drum tones. Choi offers a discussion about the differences between using one or two kick pedals and how that affects the way drummers write and perform live.

Sweet and Skolnick–who note that they haven't seen each other since the late '80s–get into plenty of back-and-forth discussions about bands doing cover songs and cover albums, re-recording their earlier material for better production value, the process of bands breaking up and more. Sweet goes into the nuances of Stryper being portrayed as a Christian band–"I don't like being called a Christian band; we're a rock band made up of Christians," he says–and how they have managed to shed that stereotype a bit and keep up with the rest of the rock and metal world.

It's an interesting situation for Weinman, who has made quite a name for himself with his work in TDEP. Spin proclaimed him as one of the top 100 guitarists of all time, he's considered one of the fastest guitar players in the world and he's an inspiration for many young metal-lovers today. And he's still under 40 years old. As he admits early on in this episode, he grew up listening to and admiring the work of Friedman, who played on five albums with Megadeth in the '90s. The duo talk about how they form their bands and how Friedman is choosing musicians for an upcoming solo world tour supporting his recently released album Inferno. It's Friedman's 12th solo album since 1988.

Portnoy, who is widely known for his dedication to impeccable technique and who is one of the youngest drummers to be inducted into Modern Drummer's Hall of Fame, discusses his admiration of Hale's energy and acrobatics when performing live. Hale demonstrates some stick tricks and reveals why he began adding showmanship into his live playing–he was inspired by legends like Led Zeppelin's John Bonham and The Who's Keith Moon. The two veterans get into talks about their favorite drummers of all time, the best drummers who were also lead vocalists, their advice for new drummers about how they can become more versatile and much, much more.

The duo demonstrate some guitar soloing and discuss how the greatest guitar solos are structured. They each share their own ideologies behind writing solos and Frehley demonstrates the picking technique he's known for while showing off his first custom guitar.

The two busy musicians take some time to chat about their influences, how fans react to the growth of their favorite musicians and more. The duo get deep into their history in metal and their influences.