Mark Strigl is the co-host and creator of the Talking Metal Podcast, the number-one heavy metal/hard rock podcast on iTunes.  The podcast began as a hobby and extension of Strigl's Music News site which featured news articles and reviews.  As Mark points out in the following interview, there wasn't really a need for another music site.  After listening to other podcasts and noticing a lack of coverage in the metal genre, "Talking Metal" was born.  Since inception, The Talking Metal podcast has grown in popularity, averaging 100,000 downloads and 1-2 million hits per month to its website.  

Jerred: I want to take listeners and fans of the show all the way back to the beginning.  If you go to the website, Talkingmetal.com, it's still striglsmusicnews.com  Before there was a Talking Metal podcast, what was on Strigl's Music News? 
Mark: Strigl's Music News was my personal site that I started probably about two years before we started the podcast.  It was a just a site where I did reviews of bands and little news type of stuff.  It was a music news site.  That's it and I realized that there wasn't really much need for another music news site.  I wasn't updating it much.  The buzzword in the media was "podcasts" and I felt that there weren't a lot of good metal podcasts out there.  I was listening to a podcast called The Rock and Roll Geek Show which I was really a big fan of which is done by Michael Butler who played bass in Exodus for awhile.  I was influenced and inspired by that.  His show was more rock n' roll.  It was a guy talking about his love of rock n' roll, doing some interviews and it was exactly what the title claimed - a rock n' roll geek show for geeks.  I was really into that so he was definitely the influence that made me think, "let me do something like he's doing, but with more of a metal spin on it because he, of course, was doing more of a rock n' roll thing.  I think we hit at the right time.  A lot of times, it's all when you enter the field.  We were early in the podcasting game and I think that helped us because in the beginning there weren't really a lot of choices for people.  I thinked that really helped us connect with metal listeners and I think as the show evolved, it just got better.
Jerred: The title of the podcast itself, I think it's a great name - Talking Metal.  I was wondering how you came up with the title. 
Mark: When I was a kid I used to watch a show called Talking Baseball which they played each week and it wrapped up everything that happened in baseball that week.  It was exactly what it said.  It was a baseball news talk show.  A lot of times when I hang out with my friends at bars, John being one of them, we always just start talking about metal.  I always found the conversation interesting and thought there would be other metal geeks out there who would want to listen to two guys drinking some beer and talking about metal.  That's where the whole idea came from and it worked.
Jerred: The topic of "what is metal" has come up so many times during the podcast.  It goes way back.  People can argue for days on this topic.  Sometimes, it gets really ugly.  What is it about metal that inspires so much passion?
Mark: It's a form of art, it's music and people relate to it.  It means something intensely personal to people.  I think that's why they start taking such an interest in defending what they believe is metal.  I don't know.  It's a tough question.  People argue about movies.  People argue about sports players.  It's like that.  It's such a big part of people's lives.  Everybody's opinionated.  Everyone wants to define metal in their own personal way because it is such a personal thing. 
Jerred: It's definitely open-ended.  It's always interesting what people think about metal.  Some people think old school metal like New Wave of British Heavy Metal isn't maybe as heavy or wouldn't be heavy by today's standards, but definitely back then that was Heavy Metal. 
Mark: In some ways that's more metal than a lot of the extreme metal that's out currently.  The label's too put this name on their product and I think the marketing machine has a lot to do with what people think is or is not metal.  If a band is on Metal Blade Records, people think that's a metal band.  Although if you compare them to Saxon, one of the definitive metal bands from the 70s and early 80s, they're not metal.  Who knows?  I think a lot of it is marketing and what you're exposed to at a certain time in your life.
Jerred: On Episode 4, you commented on your Top 20 List and you said probably about 90% of the bands that were on there might not really be considered metal.  What other musical genres are you a fan of?
Mark: I like all genres.  I'm just a big fan of a good song and I think that transcends different genres from alternative indie rock to arena rock to glam metal to death metal to extreme metal to disco to country.  A good song is a good song.  I like jazz.  I like anything that for whatever reason strikes a chord within me. 
Jerred: On Episode 2, you talked about two other possible podcast shows.  One was Alien Rock which became Talking Rock and the other idea that was mentioned was a "Waiting for Axl" podcast.  The coverage for Axl Rose on Talking Metal has been pretty intense.  Could you tell me about your interest in Axl Rose, Guns N' Roses, and Chinese Democracy.  How long have you been waiting for Chinese Democracy?
Mark: I've been waiting just as long as everybody else.  Even before we knew it was called Chinese Democracy, we've been waiting to hear another Guns N' Roses record.   At least since '96/'97 I think is when people started wondering what was going on.  Would there be another record?  It's one of the most fascinating stories in the history of rock what happened with Guns N' Roses...with them bringing real rock back to mainstream America.  In a way, they were the last real rock n' roll band if you will because they had the Rolling Stones influences, the Aerosmith influences.  You can argue that bands like Nirvana, even metal bands that have come out or pop bands just haven't had the danger that Guns N' Roses had.  The lack of information has led everybody's imagination run wild as to what is Chinese Democracy.  It's become legendary.  I think the story of Chinese Democracy ranks up there with Brian Wilson and him not doing anything for a long time.  It ranks up there with The Doors.  I think their story is incredibly exciting when it comes to the history of rock. 
Jerred: I first started paying attention back in '97.  I was just fascinated that Axl would still carry on without Slash. My interest is, "can he pull it off?  Will he?  What will it be like?"  We're still waiting, but I'm still interested... ten years later (laughs).  I wanted to get into what turned you onto metal.  Is there a song that made you a metal fan, that once you heard, you said, "this is it"? 
Mark: When I was a kid, when I was 10 or even younger than that, I was into Kiss and Led Zeppelin.  A year after that, AC/DC got a big push in this country and was really turned onto them.  Those were the bands that laid the groundwork for me.  Suddenly the early 80s came and I can specifically remember hearing "Cum on Feel the Noize" by Quiet Riot on the radio for the first time.  Soon after came, "Looks to Kill" by Motley Crue.  Then I remember hearing an Iron Maiden song on a high school radio.  It's was just the excitement of everything in the early to mid 80s that turned me onto heavy metal music just like hundreds of thousands and millions of other kids across the country.  It was something that wasn't on pop radio quite as much.  Even though you could get most of the records at the shopping mall when it came to a band like Iron Maiden, there was still a danger about them and something that the average kid at school didn't know about.  It's back to what we were saying earlier.  They've become a incredibly personal part of your life.  It's perfect for a teenage kid for a band like Iron Maiden with the fantasy element to the songs and loud agressive angry guitars.  It clicks with any teenager.  Those same albums that I got turned onto are still turning on 14 year olds today.  I was in Sam Ash recently and saw some kid sitting down trying out a guitar and he was playing "The Trooper".  It was really amazing.
Jerred: You're also a musician.  You play the guitar.  When you first picked up the guitar, who inspired you to learn how to play the instrument?   
Mark: I picked up the guitar because I was totally into Angus Young and AC/DC.  I was into other stuff too.  I was into Van Halen and The Who and stuff like that, but it was definitely AC/DC that made me want to play guitar.
Jerred: I interviewed John (Ostronomy) a long time ago and he said some of the best music he has recorded has been with Captain T and Ostronomy.  When did you first meet and begin collaborating?
Mark: I met John at Berklee College of Music in 1987.  He was friends with a friend of mine and it turned out we were all into Ace Frehley and kind of just bonded over that.  Really we've been friends ever since.  He was a drummer.  We've jammed many times thoughout the years and we've had a few bands together.  He's always been a constant ever since I've met him. 
Jerred: One of the things about the podcast is that it's turned me onto new music, stuff that I may have not listened to before or given a chance really.  I've always known about Black Sabbath with Ozzy, but I never really gave anything else a listen beyond that.  Through the podcast I became a fan of Dio-era Black Sabbath.  You're a big fan of all different eras of Black Sabbath.  What are your favorite Black Sabbath albums post-Ozzy?
Mark: For sure, Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules.  Definitely Born Again.  The Tony Martin stuff is all very interesting.  Cross Purposes, I think is a really cool record.  "Back to Eden" is a great song off of that.  Strangely, I like the Forbidden record a lot which a lot of people don't like.  I think there's a lot of good stuff on that.  Tyr is interesting too.  "Valhalla" is a great song off of that.
Jerred: Did you ever have any idea that Talking Metal would become as big as it is?  When did you notice that things were really taking off?
Mark: I noticed things started to take off right around the time of...there was a guy named Lizzy Borden.  We interviewed him and I remember after that getting probably like a dozen emails from people saying, "thanks for doing the interview, very cool, this and that" and thinking, "wow, people are really starting to listen."  Shortly after that, we started permanently getting a parking space in the top position (on iTunes) for hard rock and heavy metal podcasts.   I would say around the time of the Lizzy Borden episode is when I noticed it.  I'm not sure when that was.  Probably, the Guns N' Roses stuff happened shortly after that.  The Guns N' Roses stakeouts - I think they were as much comedy as they were anything else.  It was the next level where it just put us over the top.  Of course, we have stat counters on our site so we get numbers as to how many people are hitting the RSS feed and MP3s.  We've seen it.  It's been a pretty gradual rise.  I specifically remember right around the Lizzy Borden thing thinking "wow, this is starting to get some listens".
Jerred: Those stakeout episodes with GNR were classic.  Who would have thought of going down to Sanctuary and Sterling Sound to see if you could possibly bump into somebody that might know something about Chinese Democracy.  You guys bumped into a few people I think.
Mark: We did.  I basically knew going down there we weren't going to get anything.  Again, it was the zany geekiness of going down there and hanging out, the ridiculous nature of it that I think made the whole thing fun.
Jerred: The Talking Metal podcast has been going on for over two years, almost two and a half years now.  Was there any interview that really stood out to you or a series of interviews that you really enjoyed and that you still think back upon as having a blast doing?
Mark: Oh, yeah.  There are so many.   I love all the interviews.  To me, going to meet Ozzy Osbourne I think was one of the jewels on the crown.  I felt, "wow, it doesn't get any bigger than this".  The same goes for Rob Halford.  Both those guys.  Sitting down and talking with those guys at a table.  They're so personable and friendly.  I would say both Rob Halford and Ozzy Osbourne have been the top moments of Talking Metal for me.
Jerred: Without a doubt, the Rob Halford episode was such a highlight for me.  The Metal God coming onto the show.  That was just a thrill.  Like you said, he's really personable and friendly.  He's such a legend, but he's also approachable.  He's a great ambassador for the whole genre.
Mark: Absolutely.

Links:
http://www.striglsmusicnews.com/podcasts/talkingmetal/index.htm
http://strigl.wordpress.com/