On stage Amy Taylor has something of a dervish: she prefers to wear nothing but hot pants, bikini tops and a blonde mullet, screams her head off, swears and curses like a barker or puts overly intrusive (male) concertgoers in their place with punches and kicks. In other words: a force of nature, reminiscent of Wendy O. Williams from the Plasmatics, who once beguiled even Lemmy. That's why she's unrecognizable in person: a rather shy, unbelievably friendly and eager 26-year-old from Melbourne, who seems as if she couldn't hold back a drop of water

It was a tough struggle for every note, a frustrating search for a vision, a sparking idea. Pink Floyd initially found it very difficult when it came to recording a new album. Necessity is the mother of invention, and so the band ventured a new approach, but it required an "aha" effect, an illuminating moment that pointed the way. In late 1971, after a seemingly endless recording process, "Meddle" was finally released. It showed Pink Floyd focused as never before. The band had found themselves, had finally arrived in the 70s. "Meddle" was literally a milestone on the way to "The Dark Side Of The Moon" and "Wish You Were Here".

Darf ich was vorsingen?" is the title of the recently published autobiography of the exceptional German singer Inga Rumpf. The occasion is 75 years of life and around 55 years as a musician. At the same time there is new music from the rock and soul singer on an anniversary CD double decker: "Universe Of Dreams" is a brand new studio album, on "Hidden Tracks" buried treasures from the archives have been unearthed. We gladly took the chance to let the still vital Hamburg sailor's daughter tell us about her rich life via Zoom interview. After all, prominent artists and bands such as Udo Lindenberg, Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones and BAP also crossed her path.

eclipsed: What's your first image in your mind when you think of 75 years of life and over half a century of career as a musician?

The big train is unstoppable: Even Corona and the departure of no less than three longtime members couldn't slow down Big Big Train's ride. David Longdon and Greg Spawton are proud of what their band embodies. In a double interview they revealed the idea behind the new studio album "Common Ground" and that they even already know what the next record will be about.

eclipsed: "Common Ground" was recorded in difficult times. What was different this time?

David Longdon: We are an international band and we have always worked with file sharing. In fact, this time we had agreed to record the new album together in one room, but ironically we couldn't because of the pandemic. So it was business as usual.

November 24 marks the 30th anniversary of Freddie Mercury's death, and September 5 would have been the Queen singer's 75th birthday. Already on August 6, the album "Back To The Light" of his ex-bandmate Brian May was re-released, with which he processed the loss of his friend and the resulting end of the group in 1992. In the interview he talked about his crisis at that time, Mercury's continuing presence and the modern media society.

"I think primarily about the people involved in it, not so much about the songs on the album. The songs are still in my life, half of the people who worked on it aren't," Mikael Åkerfeldt replies when asked what the first thing that comes to his mind about "Blackwater Park" is. 20 years have passed since the album was released in March 2001, which on the one hand decisively boosted Opeth's career, and on the other raised the genre of progressive metal to a new level. Guitarist, singer and main songwriter Åkerfeldt, bassist Martín Méndez and producer Steven Wilson look back.

With "Innocence & Danger", NMB (formerly Neal Morse Band) will release the highly anticipated follow-up to "The Great Adventure" (2019) on August 27. After two sprawling concept albums in a row, however, Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy, Randy George, Eric Gilette and Bill Hubauer have come up with a refreshing collection of individual songs this time. Nevertheless, it has become a double album.

It made curious when earlier this year in the update video for the recording of "Innocence & Danger" the master himself stated a dry "I didn't bring anything". Did the Neal Morse Band's fourth album actually come together without any initial Morse input? And why does the group now call itself NMB with the addition "formerly the Neal Morse Band"? We talked to the two guitarists Neal Morse and Eric Gillette

eclipsed: Neal, "Innocence & Danger" sounds more like a band affair than ever.