This I-Host Has Been Waiting A Long Time To Get In Here

Meet Brian.  Brian was supposed to be the I-Host for the final week of March.  Well, you know what happened then.  It was all shut down.  So finally...meet this week's I-Host Brian!

Question one - Who are you? Brian Keitel. I work in two restaurants. With all the craziness that has been going on I hadn't been working but now with restaurants slowly reopening, it feels good to be back working at them. They are The Tangled Wood in Bettendorf, IA and Combine in East Moline, IL.

Question two - Why do you love hard rock? I like all types of music, but hard rock is my favorite. I think it is because of how all the instruments come together and each can shine in a song. As well as the raw emotion you can feel coming through with the beats and lyrics. It's also great music to help get you through the day, have it be chores, errands, exercising or helping get you through a long work shift.

Question three - Who is your favorite band/artist? There are many bands that I love, they are 311, Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, Halestorm, Coheed & Cambria, would be the mainstream ones. Others that are not as mainstream but are still great are The Scars Heal in Time, Cold Kingdom, Divide the Fall, Stitched Up Heart and Kaleido, but my #1 would have to be City of the Weak. I found them out while listening to music on YouTube, they were on a thumbnail off to the right. I clicked on it and have been hooked since. I finally got to see them live when they came to the RME last March of 2019. One of the main things that made me like them was their high energy while performing on stage. Then they hung out by their merch table after their set and talked and hung out with fans and even took pictures and signed stuff. They were just so down to earth and nice. We ended up striking a friendship after that and I saw them 6 more times later that year. I even followed them for a week on their last tour, which was awesome and I got to see how bands like them do everything themselves while on a tour. It is a lot of work and made me appreciate them and similar bands even more.

Question four - What is the best concert you've ever seen? There have a many but a couple of the best are: I saw 311 and Foo Fighters at Carver Hawkeye Area in late 90's, I went to Summer Sanitarium in 2000 which had System of a Down, Powerman 5000, Kid Rock, Korn, and Metallica, that was an outdoor show at a racetrack. The last one was in August when I got to see Divide the Fall, City of the Weak and Cold Kingdom, all bands which I am friends with.

For my set, I want to feature some bands that some people may not know to help spread the word of their music.

New Disaster - Cold Kingdom
Headspin - Butcher Babies
I Won't Fade Away - Divide the Fall
Judas - Fozzy
Warrior - Stitched Up Heart
Numb - A Killer's Confession
Trial By Fire - Saul
Pretending - Kaleido
Bulletproof - Diamante
The Suffering - Coheed and Cambria
Bleed it Out - Linkin Park
Light Out - The Scars Heal in Time
Censor This - City of the Weak