Dan Volpe has kept the same band alive for forty years, figures he's owned something like a thousand guitars, and still flat-out refuses to carry a setlist. He's the mastermind behind My Metal Heart and the guy who's run Exide since 1984 — and he just became the third member of My Metal Heart to land in the Hog Pod chairs, after Elise and Mark Molloy.

He gets into the Thirsty Whale nights when the smoke machine hid the whole band for five songs, naming a group after WVVX 103.1 blasting metal till 1 a.m., the day the guy who wrote "Switchin' to Glide" tracked him down over a cover — and whether a cover-band lifer is ready to let AI write his next song. If you came up in the Chicagoland bar scene, this one's for you. Grab a cold one.

🎯 KEY MOMENTS

0:00 Cold open

2:00 Back from vacation — straight into two band practices

2:43 The 3rd My Metal Heart member to hit the Hog Pod (after Elise & Mark Molloy)

4:45 Exide since 1984 & the birth of My Metal Heart

5:24 Why he built VVX to play Van Halen to Metallica

6:18 The band named after a dead radio station: WVVX 103.1

7:02 Suits on, "Cuddly Metal" — the My Metal Heart rebrand

9:18 No rehearsal since 1991 — and it still works

10:01 Walking in and playing last night's leftover setlist front to back

11:31 "Switchin' to Glide" — the guy from The Kings tracked him down

13:32 Thirsty Whale tales: smoke machines & an amp on fire

17:16 Northwest suburb haunts — Chances Are & Dirty Nellies

23:44 Are kids still getting into hard rock?

25:25 Running a music store through the grunge takeover

29:22 Does anybody still support live music?

35:05 How DUI patrols quietly emptied the bars

36:29 Why he brings earplugs to every show now

40:18 Older brother, Van Halen '78 & the spark

44:07 The best guitar players going right now

45:19 The power-chord "aha" that unlocked everything

46:03 The AI snobbery segment: can a machine write your next song?

50:35 How many guitars? Try 1,000

53:16 Les Paul vs. Strat — the real difference

55:05 His one-of-a-kind Hamer out of Arlington Heights

56:49 First concert: Doobie Brothers, front row, age seven

1:00:03 The vacation where he set up a friend's entire guitar collection

1:01:38 Pop Tarts: the final verdict

📍 Chicago cover bands - Exide - My Metal Heart - VVX - WVVX 103.1 - The Kings - Thirsty Whale - Hamer Guitars - Rick Nielsen - Van Halen - guitar collecting - Chicago live music scene - AI music

🎸 Guest links

My Metal Heart — MyMetalHeart.com (Facebook / YouTube)

Exide — on Facebook

Book Dan — dan@vvxlive.com, or Joey DeMarco at United Talent

❤️ Support the Hog Pod: patreon.com/hogpod

Hosted by Pete Jansons & Mike "Bongo" Orfanos

🎤 Want on the show? Booker / club owner / shredder → booking@hogpod.org

#Hogpod #ChicagoMusic #DanVolpe #MyMetalHeart #Exide #ChicagolandMusicScene #ChicagoCoverBands #TributeBand #HairMetal #GuitarCollector #ChicagoLiveMusic #PeteJansons #BongoMike