Greetings Mr Stanway, it’s a pleasure to chat again and to finally see Kingdom of Madness‘ long overdue Sentinel Daily debut! Now, on with the questions! As the world writhes in the grip of Covid-19, there’s a better-by-the-day chance of the general population being put into  complete lockdown. Which five classic albums are you planning on giving a good listen to when the unthinkable happens, and why? “If I could only choose five albums to listen to during this pandemic they would be: Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd, The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Jeff Beck‘s Guitar Shop, Spectrum by Billy Cobham and a Best of of the works of Claude Debussey“.

A nice selection. Thank you! You’ll have a lot of time on your hands even after repeated spins of those old faves – any new bands you’ve heard about that you’ll be able to lend some ears to? Who is on the up-and-up in your opinion? “I’m involved with a new band myself so the answer would have to be Kingdom of Madness”.

Of course! How will you otherwise handle the comparative solitude? Do you write music on your own well? Or do you need other musos around to catch the spark? “I am actually writing my second book so this solitude is allowing me some time to further my efforts”.

Away from music, or indeed authoring, what books, podcasts or TV do you recommend to while away a few quarantined days? “I am very selective about what I subject myself to on the television but I do need regular hits of humour so I always recommend Family Guy as it is so wonderfully politically wrong!”

There is a lot of comment on social media about the damage being done to our industry by the virus and its attendant countermeasures – how do you see ways to fight this situation working? What, for instance, do you think of playing shows for the internet and hoping fans throw a few coins into the hat via paypal or gofundme, et cetera? “I guess there will be a lot of musicians and bands planning on streaming live music on the internet but in order to do that in any sort of professional way one would have to ideally be in the same room as your fellow musicians so this would defeat the self-isolation approach. I will just continue writing music and hopefully complete writing my second book and hope all will be back to normal by the (Northern) Summer”.

When it all dies down, what plans loom on the horizon for you? “Getting my new band Kingdom of Madness playing live and recording new material”.

New material? Excellent news! Will rock n’roll be the same after the scare recedes – are there any lessons for the music industry to take from what’s happened so far and implement for a better tomorrow? “I’m sure things will return back to normal within a month or two looking at the way this pandemic is going, the music industry along with every other industry involved with large gatherings of people et cetera will certainly be better equipped should a similar situation like this ever happen again”.

Let’s hope it doesn’t! Anything else you’d like to say to our readers at this difficult time? “Apart from the obvious personal hygiene practice and of course strictly adhering to the advice given by the learned Health experts, one should try and help after the vulnerable wherever possible. Cheers and stay safe!”

You too- thanks again for taking part!