CooperTalk

Steve Cooper talks with musician Michael Sweet. Michael is best known for being the lead singer, guitarist and song writer for the popular band Stryper. Stryper was formed in 1983 as Roxx Regime, the band soon changed their musical message to reflect their Christian beliefs, and the band's name was also changed to Stryper. They went on to become the first overtly Christian heavy metal band to gain acceptance in the mainstream. In 1983, they signed with major label Enigma Record and released their debut album The Yellow and Black Attack. In the mid-1980s, Stryper enjoyed their most successful period beginning with the release of To Hell with the Devil, which achieved platinum sales status. Stryper went on to release two more gold albums before breaking up in 1992. In 2003, Stryper came out of retirement for a reunion tour and subsequently signed a multi-album contract with Big3 Records in 2005. In 2013 they signed a multi-album deal with Frontiers Records, and have released Second Coming, which includes 14 re-recorded songs from their first three albums and an album, No More Hell To Pay, released on November 5, 2013, and Fallen on October 16, 2015. He also was lead singer for the legendary band Boston for 4 years and has released 7 solo albums and is currently on tour. See Michael this Wednesday 6/14 at Market on Main in Hickory, NC.

Steve Cooper talks with comic/actor/writer Fred Stoller. Fred started his career as a stand-up comic and has performed on shows such as Late Night with David Letterman, Comics Only, HBO's The 13th Annual Young Comedians Special and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to name a few. As an actor he has appeared in over 70 TV programs and movies since the late 1980s. His first role was in Big Man on Campus. He has since held recurring roles in the series Murphy Brown, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Suddenly Susan, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide and been a guest star on numerous shows. He can also be seen in the films Dumb and Dumber, Daddy Day Care, and Joe Dirt. He was a writer for one season of Seinfeld and appeared in an episode the following season and chronicled his life as a sitcom writer in his book My Seinfeld Year. He recently just released his 3rd book, Five Minutes to Kill: How the HBO Young Comedians Special Changed the Lives of 1989's Funniest Comics.

Steve Cooper talks with guitarist James Stevenson. James started his career with the London based punk band Chelsea in 1977 and joined Billy Idol in Generation X in 1980 around the time that band's "Dancing with Myself single was released. After Gen X he played with Kim Wilde and performed in all of Wilde's early videos including Kids in America and then formed Hot Club with former Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock In 1985, he was asked to join post-punk band Gene Loves Jezebel and still plays with them today. In 1994 and 1995, he provided additional guitar playing for the Cult during their world tour and rejoined them in 2013 and 2014. In 2000 he became guitarist for The Alarm who he will be touring with the next few months. He has also been a member of The International Swingers, Holy Holy recorded a solo album.  

Steve Cooper talks with comic Joey Kola. Joey has worked at countless comedy clubs, colleges, casinos, theatres, cruise ships and corporate functions. His TV credits include, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman, The King of Queens with Kevin James, The Martha Stewart Show, Comedy Central Presents Joey Kola, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Comedy Central's Premium Blend, The Rachael Ray Show, Jimmy Fallon and CBS's hit show Kevin Can Wait staring Kevin James, where he also plays the role of Larry Anderson, the corn eating Assistant Principal on the show. He has been voted Best TV Warm-up Comic 5 years in a row by Time Out NY magazine. He has warmed up many shows, such as The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with Meredith Viera, The Late Show With David Letterman, The Apprentice and Survivor Finales, The Jane Pauley Show and CBS's Wake-Up with Ali and Jack, Rachael Ray Show, The Marriage Ref produced by Jerry Sienfield, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Chew.

Steve Cooper talks with guitarist Paul Gilbert. Paul is best known for his guitar work with the bands Mr. Big and Racer X. In 1986 he started Racer X. Their debut album, Street Lethal, appeared later that year, but in the wake of the follow-up, 1987's Second Heat, that he exited to join Mr. Big, which in 1992 topped the pop charts with the ballad "To Be with You." Mr. Big disbanded in 1996, and a year later he made his solo debut with King of Clubs. He also re-formed Racer X, who had enormous success in Japan with the 1999 LP Technical Difficulties and 2000's Superheroes. The ensuing years saw him continuing to release solo albums while recording and touring with Racer X, and in 2011 he teamed back up with Mr. Big and released the album What If. The following year he issued his 12th solo outing, Vibrato, followed by the 2014 covers LP Stone Pushing Uphill Man, and in 2015 the Heatseekers-bound I Can Destroy. In July Mr. Big will be releasing their album Defying Gravity and will tour.  

Steve Cooper talks with comic Jim Florentine. Jim was the co-host of VH1's That Metal Show and was Special Ed from Comedy Central's Crank Yankers and made his mark on the comedy scene not long after his Terrorizing Telemarketers' prank CD exploded shortly after it's release. His hilarious, unapologetic deadpan style has him not only among the top touring stand-up comedians in the country, but lending his unique comedic skills to a multitude of shows, films, comedy albums and radio programs including The Howard Stern Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Chelsea Lately and far too many others to mention. He also hosts the podcast Comedy Metal Midgets, the radio show Metal Midgets on SiriusXM and recently released a dvd/cd A Simple Man.

Steve Cooper talks with producer/writer/comic Sue Kolinsky. Sue started her comedy career at the NY Improv and for 20 years performed at clubs and colleges and did numerous tours with the USO, along with appearances on The Tonight Show and Bob Hope’s Young Comedians Special. She has written on Brotherly Love, Sex and the City and The Ellen Show. In 2001, she got a call to be a producer on the groundbreaking reality series, The Osbourne’s and after garnering her first Emmy nomination, she went to produce a new MTV show called, Newlyweds, a reality series that documented the early-married life of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. In 2009 she landed a job as supervising producer of the highly touted culinary competition series, Top Chef. She eventually became co-executive producer, garnering two more Emmy nods. Adding to her many hats, she also co-hosted a morning radio talk show with Steve Mason, on NY’s iconic WNEW. She recently produced a season of Last Comic Standing, is writing an animated feature, has the sports blog Sue's Got Game and writes for the website Metsmerizedonline.

Steve Cooper talks with rapper/director/writer Young MC. Young is best known for his rap mega-hit Bust a Move and for writing the Tone Loc hits Funky Cold Medina and Wild Thing. In January 1990 he won the American Music Award for Best Rap Artist. In February 1990 he won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance and won the Billboard Award for the Best New Pop Artist in December 1990 and to date he has recorded eight studio albums. Songs from his later albums have been featured in network television shows including NBCs Scrubs and Knight Rider, ABCs Ugly Betty, HBOs Entourage and numerous others. They were also used in trailers for the films Four Brothers, Crossover and Barnyard. He has acted appearing in movies like The Player and Up In The Air and most recently directed, wrote and co-starred in the motion picture Justice Served. He also still hits the road performing concerts with an all-star 90's tour.

Steve Cooper talks with guitarist/singer/songwriter Bill Leverty. Bill is best known for being a founding and current member of the band Firehouse. Firehouse reached stardom in the early 1990's with many hit singles and ballads. They also remained very popular in Asia, South America and Europe throughout the early 2000s. During his tenure with the band, Bill has also released multiple solo albums including an instrumental one and a Christmas one and he is currently working on new material.

Steve Cooper talks with guitarist Brian Forsythe. Brian is best known for being the guitarist for the band Kix. Kix achieved major popularity throughout the 80's and 90's on both the record charts and performing around the world and still tour together today. When he isn't busy with them he plays for the LA based band Rhino Bucket.

Steve Cooper talks with stand-up comic Jeffrey Jena. Jeffrey is one of the top corporate and cruise comics working today. His thirty three years of live performance experience and over forty national television shows,both as an actor and comic give him the ablity to work for any audience. In his years as a stand-up comic he has appeared on over forty national television show, including Comics Unleashed, The Bob and Tom Show, The Dennis Miller Show, HBO, MTV, Evening at the Improv, NBC Friday Night and The Showtime Comedy Club Network. As an actor he has been seen on Murder She Wrote, Hunter, appeared in shows with Jenny McCarthy and Weird Al Yankovic and in several films including Raising the Dead with Allison Eastwood. He has played over 1000 venues including clubs, Las Vegas, and cruise ships. He has opened for acts as varied as Barry Manilow, Jeffrey Osborne, The Temptations, Delbert McClintock, and Englebert Humperdinck and has also written jokes for a wide variety of comedians including Ron White and Marty Allen.

Steve Cooper talks with drummer Troy Patrick Farrell. Troy is appearing on CooperTalk for the second time. He is best known for his stick work with White Lion and Gilby Clarke. He has toured the world 7 times, North America 14 times, performed in nearly 40 countries and has played with the Bulletboys, Jani Lane of Warrant, CC DeVille of Poison, John Corabi, Ugly Kid Joe, Enuff Z'Nuff and jams with a super group Cheap Thrill that includes members of Cinderella. He also drums for The Raskins and did a 60+ city tour where they opened for Motley Crue and Alice Cooper.  

Steve Cooper talks with actor Xander Berkeley. Xander makes his second appearance on CooperTalk. He started off playing minor roles in 1981, with appearances in Remington Steele, Miami Vice, Moonlighting and countless other series. Much later, he also appeared on The X-Files, CSI, ER and Law & Order. As for the big screen, he counts Sid & Nancy, North Country, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, A Few Good Men, Apollo 13, Gattaca, The Rock, Air Force One, Spawn, Amistad, and Timecode as some of his credentials. In 2001, he bagged a recurring spot as George Mason, head of the Counter Terrorist Unit on the hit series 24. His character was killed off in season 2. In 2009, he was cast on the NBC sci-fi series Day One, which follows apartment residents who survive an unknown worldwide catastrophe. From 2010 to 2012, he starred on The CW’s Nikita as the villain Percy. In the following years, he was seen on Being Human, Longmire, Louder than Words, Salem, The Mentalist, Justified, 12 Monkeys, Aquarius and numerous other shows. Most recently he played Gregory in The Walking Dead and co-stars in LAbrynth with Johnny Depp and Forrest Whitaker.

Steve Cooper talks with guitarist, singer, songwriter Richie Kotzen. Richie has released a long series of more than twenty albums with musical influences ranging from Rock, Hard Rock, Pop, Blues, Blue-eyed-soul, R&B and Funk to Jazz Fusion. In 1991, at age 21, he joined glam-metal band Poison and in 1999 played for the rock band Mr. Big. In 2006 he opened for the Rolling Stones in Japan and recently was in the supergroup The Winery Dogs with Billy Sheehan and Mike Portnoy. He currently is embarking on a tour to promote his latest album Salting Earth. 

Steve Cooper talks with actor Peter Onorati. Peter makes his second appearance on CooperTalk. He has amassed quite the resume over his years in the business. He has starred in the TV series such as Cop Rock, Civil Wars, Murder One, Murer in the First and Joe's Life and has appeared in shows that include How to Get Away with Murder Kate & Allie, Tales from the Crypt, The Pretender, NYPD Blue, Nash Bridges, Walker Texas Ranger, ER, Sex and the City, Everybody Hates Chris, Monk, NCIS, CSI:NY, Cold Case, Boston Legal, Desperate Housewives, The Mentalist, Glades, Rizzoli & Isles, Sons of Anarchy, Blue Bloods and Castle. He also lends his voice to many different projects including Teen Titans, Justice League and Batman Beyond. He recently had a recurring role on This Is Us and is currently shooting a pilot for the remake of SWAT for CBS.