Brian Ives
Brian Ives has written and produced video for the web and for television, written for magazines, penned liner notes for box sets, and interviewed some of the biggest legends in music as well as some of pop's biggest hitmakers. He has worked for VH1, VH1 Classic, MTV.com, MTV2 and currently works on the interactive team at SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio.
As a freelance writer/producer, he has been comissioned by record labels to interview artists including Smokey Robinson, The Fray and B.B. King for promotional materials, contributed to the Musichound: Essential Album Guide and VH1's 100 Greatest Albums of All Time book, and has written liner notes for box sets and reissues including Black Sabbath's Black Box, Whatever: The '90s Pop Culture Box Set and Yes: The Word Is Live. You can hear him every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET on SIRIUS XM's OutQ channel on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick and read his blog at No Expiration (www.noexpiration.blogspot.com).
One of his main strengths is his understanding of, and passion for, several different types of music: rock, hip-hop, the blues, punk, metal, R&B, country and pop are all genres he has commented on, written about, and he has interviewed artists in all of the above categories. He has a respect for the legends, but knows that great new music is always being made; he understands and loves different niches, but also loves pop. Among the artists he's gotten facetime with: U2, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce Knowles, Joss Stone, Gretchen Wilson, Brandy, Kanye West, Run and D.M.C., Metallica, Robert Plant, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Chrissie Hynde, Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, George Martin, Gene Simmons, Alice Cooper, Maroon 5, Andre 3000, Big Boi, Joe Strummer, Dee Dee Ramone, The Beastie Boys, Lemmy, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Rick Wright of Pink Floyd, Geddy Lee of Rush, Jeff Beck, Alison Krauss,Carlos Santana, Wyclef Jean, Emmylou Harris, PJ Harvey, Aimee Mann, Henry Rollins, Mos Def, Tori Amos, Ben Harper, John Mellencamp, Common, Little Steven Van Zandt, Max Weinberg, Steve Earle, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Willie Nelson, Grandmaster Flash, Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Ringo Starr, Roger Daltrey, Ray Davies, John Fogerty, Gregg Allman, Warren Haynes, String Cheese Incident, Bob Weir, Trey Anasasio of Phish, Sting, John Paul Jones, R.E.M., Nickel Creek and many others.
Brian got his start at Concrete Marketing, where he was charged with updating their trade magazine, Foundations, which was making the transition from being a metal-focused magazine to one that also included alternative rock. After two years of writing record reviews, a news column and interviewing artists in that position, he went on to work for The SW Radio Network (later re-named the Launch Radio Network) where he did interviews and wrote news stories for classic rock radio stations. From there he became a news writer for MTV.com, a script writer for MTV 2 (where he wrote scripts for media personalities including Jancee Dunn and Chris Booker) and a producer for VH1's Radio Network, where he produced long and short form programming.
After helping to launch VH1's Radio Network, he was drafted into VH1's News department; despite having no television experience, he produced shoots and news segments, working with talent including Rebecca Rankin, Aamer Haleem and Rachel Perry, and covered events including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, The Grammy Awards and VH1's Divas concerts. He now works as a Senior Manager of Interactive Programming at SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio, working with everyone from Eminem's Shade 45 Channel to Metropolitan Opera Radio to Jimmy Buffett's Radio Margaritaville.
