The Deadbolt - Interviews

Now out on tour until December 6 to promote "Awake", Skillet is riding high on their own maturity and growth as a band after a two year road trip for "Comatose" that took John Cooper (singer/bassist), Korey Cooper (keyboardist/vocalist), Ben Kasica (guitarist), and Jen Ledger (drummer/vocalist) to even bigger heights. With "Awake" available to fans everywhere, we caught up with Skillet lead singer, John Cooper to find out how "Awake" came together, how they approached their sound for the new record, the reason behind the album title and inspiration for the track "One Day Too Late", and how Skillet handles various misconceptions about the band.

Once the Survivor tribes finally merged in Samoa, fans saw sparks fly as everyone scrambled for power, with strategies flipping and turning like never before seen on Survivor. Although Laura, Monica, and Jaison all had targets on their backs, it was outspoken Galu member, Erik Cardona, who realized Galu turned against him and was sent packing from Samoa. The next day we tracked down Erik for our weekly Survivor Samoa chat to find out what went wrong, whether Erik saw the blindside coming, his overall Survivor strategy, how the game changed for Erik after Russell Swan left Samoa, and what Erik thought of both Shambo and Russell Hantz.

In the November 5 episode of Parks and Recreation called "Ron and Tammy", Andy (Chris Pratt) gets a job in hopes of winning Ann (Rashida Jones) back while Leslie (Poehler) discovers the library department is eyeing her lot and the library is run by Ron's (Nick Offerman) ex-wife Tammy played by Parks and Rec guest star Megan Mullally. During a recent Parks and Recreation conference call, we snagged a few brief minutes with Rashida Jones and Chris Pratt to learn more about their Parks and Recreation favorite episodes to date and whether Ann and Andy will have a larger presence on the web.

Despite the fierce gameplay, Tracey couldn't maintain the weight loss needed to remain at The Biggest Loser ranch and fell below the yellow line this week, which ended the memorable run of Tracey Yukich as one of the most talked about Biggest Loser contestants in years. The next morning we caught up with Tracey for a follow up chat about her time on The Biggest Loser in which Yukich revealed the reasons behind her gameplay, her fears of leaving The Biggest Loser too early, what she learned from Jillian Michaels, and how Tracey was affected by the lack of support during her Biggest Loser weigh-in.

Mercy secrets are now being revealed as the character relationships of both Taylor Schilling and Michelle Trachtenberg are beginning to evolve with unexpected twists and turns. With Schilling's Mercy nurse, Veronica Callaghan back on the medical job after a stint in Iraq, Trachtenberg's naive Chloe Payne is finding her professional way despite a reunion with an old flame that may get in the way of her Mercy responsibilities. With the November 4 episode of Mercy upon us, which also guest stars Elisabeth Moss, Jerry Stiller and wife Anne Meara, we caught up with Taylor Schilling and Michelle Trachtenberg on a conference call to learn more about how Mercy has settled into the NBC line-up, how Schilling and Trachtenberg are adapting to the Mercy characters, and how Mercy may be benefitting from an unexpected but similar NBC series.

While some Amazing Race teams thought Maria and Tiffany were bluffing their poker persona to gain an advantage, Maria and Tiffany were almost eliminated early in the second leg of The Amazing Race 15 but found new life due to a non-elimination leg. This week, Maria and Tiffany hit a wall when they couldn't make it past both detours and ran out of time when all of the other Amazing race teams hit the mat to continue the race. Following their elimination, we caught up with Maria and Tiffany to learn more about their Amazing Race strategy, what happened in the last leg that led to their elimination, the dynamics with the other teams, and the turning point for Maria and Tiffany on The Amazing Race.

With "Los Lobos Goes Disney" now available on Amazon and iTunes, featuring tracks from The Jungle Book, Toy Story, Robin Hood, The Haunted Mansion, 101 Dalmatians, Snow White, and more, we caught up with Los Lobos producer, saxophonist and keyboardist, Steve Berlin, for an exclusive chat about "Los Lobos Goes Disney", the challenges of rearranging Disney classics to fit the Los Lobos style, what the world looks like through the music of Disney, the evolution of Los Lobos, and the band's recent trip to the White House where Los Lobos met President Obama.

This week's vote was cemented weeks earlier when Liz Kim confronted new Survivor villain Russell Hantz over his gameplay, which put Liz on his bad side and eventually on the wrong side of the Survivor numbers in her tribe. Although it was clear to everyone that Jaison was the sure vote to leave Survivor Samoa, Russell made sure it was Liz who would be the latest to be voted out of Survivor Samoa. The next day after Liz Kim had her torch extinguished on Survivor Samoa, we caught up with Liz to learn more about her feelings on Jaison, why Liz didn't like Russell from the beginning, how she endured the rains in Samoa, and her take on what happened to Russell Swan a week earlier.

Ahead of the Strikeforce/M-1 Global Fedor vs. Rogers bout TheDeadbolt took part in a Fedor vs. Rogers conference call to talk MMA with Mixed Martial Arts pioneer Frank Shamrock, play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson, and expert MMA analyst Mauro Ranallo to get their take on Fedor vs. Rogers, the pressures between being #1 and undefeated, the legacy of the early days of Shamrock - Gracie, and the popularity of MMA leading up to Fedor vs. Rogers.