Couch Riffs

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Ep. 3: John Roderick Part 1 (The Long Winters) Feb 24, 2019

Show notes

What can I say? John Roderick is like my brother, driving me crazy much of the time but I love him a lot. Like anyone close to John I've spent countless hours having discussions with him, like this one, late in to the night. Usually with some iHop pancakes and strawberry milkshakes..... We've been in two bands together. One as bandmates (Harvey Danger) and one with him as the leader (The Long Winters). I can tell you with confidence that I preferred to play with him as a peer, though. John, as he states himself, has a lot of "ideas". You can listen yourself to some of them in my upcoming Couch Riffs Podcast. Our conversation was a whopping 93 minutes long. Sheesh. It has been something like 12 or 13 years since the last record was recorded by The Long Winters. I tracked some guitar (and bass that was unceremoniously recorded over after I quit mid-session) on that record and I think it is a really sweet collection of tunes. I would love so much for John to find the inspiration to commit himself to making the simplest and best record The Long Winters has ever created. Hell, maybe it is a solo record and not The Long Winters? What do I know? What I do know is that John, like tons and tons of musicians and other creatives, is full of self-censorship (except when it comes to talking, duh) based in undeserved doubt. Roderick and I share a love of some, but not all, of the classic hard rock and metal bands. Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and this band: Def Leppard. The thing that ALL of these bands have in common? Twin guitar attack and harmonies. We, unfortunately, didn't "completely" nail the harmonies here but I think that all in all we did okay considering that this is a first and only take, like all Couch Riffs episodes. But, what's more is this is a FIRST for Couch Riffs! John SINGS on this episode. And, I should say he did a great job. Thank you for being game for this, John. You were and always are a great conversationalist, player, and friend (sometimes almost always).

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Ep. 2 : Alex Skolnick (Testament) Feb 18, 2019

Show notes

Alex Skolnick is one of the most versatile guitarists in the metal game and was waaaaay ahead of the curve when it came to shred metal guys taking a step outside of the metal world. And, being such an amazing player he is an incredibly cool and humble guy, clearly happy to be living a life creating and performing music. It might seem weird to some that I would mention a musician being absolutely happy living a musician's life but trust me, its less common than you think it is.

We talk in this episode about functional/dysfunctional band dynamics, Alex Skolnick Trio and playing with "real jazz guys", and new Testament LP. Look for a complete and unedited version of our conversation in an upcoming Couch Riffs podcast!

Reflecting back on the middle school kid I was in the outer edges of the Bay Area in '84-'85 I can tell you that it was a thrill and an honor to have Alex in my home to do Couch Riffs with ME. Metal was everything to me and, as I've stated in the past, KVHS radio was a High School station that was almost entirely staffed by teenage metalheads promoting all the killer metal of the time. That's when I first heard Testament along with Metallica, Venom, Slayer, Megadeth, Cirith Ungol, Posessed, and tons of others. This 7th grade year was so important to me and I'm forever grateful to have had a community radio station like KVHS nearby. When they shut down each evening I was always so sad. But, that was the same year that I started building my record collection! So, I had that to fall back on. I spent so much time writing my favorite bands' names on any flat surface near me and drawing my imaginary band names on my Pee Chee folders. I wish I could remember some of those names now. "I'm sure they were all great, great names".

Thank you so much Alex. Congratulations on the release of your amazing new album, Conundrum, and good luck in 2019 with the new Testament album. I'm very much looking forward to hearing it.

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Ep. 1 : Matt Sweeney (Chavez/Guitar Moves) Feb 08, 2019

Show notes

Our first episode is finally here! The amazing Matt Sweeney and I had almost an hourlong conversation immediately following the recording of our first take of David Bowie's "Fame". Look for it on YouTube!

Matt is an incredibly talented musician who cannot possibly be summarized in this podcast description. Please, if you're not familiar, look him up. You're most likely very familiar with a number of things he's recorded on as he has recorded and performed alongside tons of legendary artists since the 90s right up until today.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Matt is smart, engaging, and always down to clown about guitar stuff.

Please subscribe to hear future episodes with future guests!

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