Alissa Ordabai profile picture

Alissa Ordabai

Extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence.

About Me

Rock journalist.
I'm a staff writer at Rockcor and a regular contributor to Crusher Magazine and Hardrock Haven .
Check my player for snippets of some of my interviews: Aerosmith, Slayer, Paul Gilbert,
Stone Sour and Type O Negative
The tune you are hearing on my player is called "Summer Lake". I wrote it and it features
me on acoustic guitar and my friend Max Dmitriev on a Les Paul jamming in my living
room in London. Writing and playing music are particularly suitable pastimes for music
journalists, I think... :)
My background is in art history and music: I studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art before doing
a post-graduate course in Music and Sound Technology at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts ,
which is also known as Paul McCartney’s Fame School.
After LIPA I became interested in copyright law, but despite graduating with a law degree from
the University of London in 2006, I have decided to go into rock journalism full-time in January 2007.
Live photography is something I'm spending more and more time doing these days. These shots
were taken in 2007 at Graspop festival in Dessel for Rockcor Magazine.
Those are from Aerosmith's exclusive gig at London's Hard Rock Cafe in February 2007, part of
the press launch of their first in 8 years European tour.
Christine Natanael, the editor of Crusher Magazine, has sent me on some of my best assignments
recently, and here are some shots I've done for her over the last few months.
These are of Apocalyptica in London earlier this year, one of the best shows I've been to in 2008 so far.
Taken a few hours after I've interviewed the band backstage for Crusher.
Click here to read the interview.
Another great assignment from Christine was in interview with Ratt - the only band I've ever interviewed
that I'm a true fan of. Click here to read the feature and see below the pictures I've taken a few hours after
the interview during their show at London's Astoria.
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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/9/2007
Influences: Chip Stern, Al Aronowitz, John Peel, Tom Wolfe, Francis Scott Fitzgerald
Sounds Like: To paraphrase Nabokov, I think like a genius, write like a distinguished woman of letters, and I talk like an idiot.:)

Record Label: Rockcor Magazine
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

Yngwie Malmsteen interview

At the time when rock audience viewed classical music with nothing but suspicion, Malmsteen managed not only to dazzle rock fans with his superhuman technical prowess, but, more importantly, to single...
Posted by Alissa Ordabai on Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:29:00 PST

John 5 Interview

By erasing boundaries between rock, thrash, industrial, bluegrass, and classical music, by dissecting them, and assembling them anew in a phantasmagorical new creation, John 5 invented a new genre whi...
Posted by Alissa Ordabai on Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:49:00 PST

Ayin Aleph

In a display of lavish theatricality, our heroine shape-shifts her voice into imitations of French opéra comique, 1930 Broadway musicals, operetta, Russian romance, and American music saloon, pepperin...
Posted by Alissa Ordabai on Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:06:00 PST

Ballet Deviare

The classic adage, "If I could express it in words, I wouldn't have to dance it," is attributed to many legendary turn of the century ballerinas, and to this day couldn't be more accurate in summing u...
Posted by Alissa Ordabai on Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:20:00 PST

Paul Gilbert Interview in Rockcor

My interview with the man is in the current issue of Rockcor. Scroll down for an English version. Paul Gilbert, the legendary guitar hero, ex-member of the 80s supergroup Mr. Big, a brilliant virtu...
Posted by Alissa Ordabai on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:38:00 PST

Alex Skolnick Interview

"I believe that all our purposes are interconnected," Alex Skolnick tells me on the phone a few hours before a Testament show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 1. "Whatever the purpose of each of us ...
Posted by Alissa Ordabai on Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:38:00 PST

Let It Bleed - Ethan Russell’s Photos of Rolling Stones at Proud Gallery, London

Having worked with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and a plethora of other legendary rock heroes during the key stages of their careers, Russell became well-known for taking part in creating...
Posted by Alissa Ordabai on Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:42:00 PST

Greg Howe - Sound Proof

Greg Howe may belong to the generation of master shredders who in the Eighties reinvented the entire genre of rock, but that doesn't mean that he ever played by the rules, old or new, or bowed to fash...
Posted by Alissa Ordabai on Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:39:00 PST

John 5 Requiem

By erasing boundaries between styles, methods, customs and traditions, John 5 allows himself to work with stripped down bare elements of each style, combining them anew in a ferocious mix of pure musi...
Posted by Alissa Ordabai on Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:25:00 PST

Dessel 2008

Just got back from Dessel... My high heels have grass stuck to them, my arms are burnt, my camera bag is covered in mud, but I brought a cart load of material back - some amazing interviews (Max Cava...
Posted by Alissa Ordabai on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:33:00 PST