About
What Makes These interviews Special?
Interviews for ProgPower USA are conducted via telephone or Skype, are recorded, transcribed, and printed virtually as-is. Because of that, they capture the unique personalities of the musicians merely by allowing them to speak their minds without edit. Cultural/language differences in grammar and word choice are left intact unless leaving them unedited would detract from the obvious meaning of the sentence.
All interviews (with the exception of Iced Earth) for ProgPower USA IX were conducted by Bill Murphy, a former journalist and Marketing/PR professional who lives and breathes music, has been collecting albums since 1972 (first album: Grand Funk Live Album), and attending concerts since 1975 (first concert: KISS). Each interview requires about two weeks of preparation, a week to transcribe, and about a full day to edit and post online. So the entire process takes from about the first of March through mid-way into August — roughly six months.
PPUSA IX interviews, which averaged around 45-60 minutes each, were transcribed by 
Elisabeth Murphy, who (almost) happily gave up most of her spring and summer to make sure each word spoken was accurately committed to paper.
Musicians interviewed are not responsible for any misspellings and/or misrepresentations of fact. The blame for such errors lies at the feet of Bill Murphy who sincerely apologizes and will gladly correct any mistakes brought to his attention.
Interviews from ProgPower USA VIII (2007) can be found at Dark Rhapsody. Interviews from ProgPower USA VII (2006) can be found at Notes From The Other Side.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The interviews posted on this web site are only half of their actual length. The entire interview can only be found in the printed ProgPower USA program book given to each attendee at the world-famous metal fest. So if you want to know everything each musician said, you’d best be at ProgPower USA IX…or watch eBay for programs to be auctioned to the highest bidder
