The Musicians Guild with Steve Choi

Latest Episodes:

The Musicians Guild welcomes Elliot Babin (Touché Amoré) Apr 15, 2021

Show notes

Greetings Earthlings, and welcome back for another episode of this pod. This week we welcome Elliot Babin, drummer of Touché Amoré to the hall of discussion. I love Elliot's drumming style and his attitude towards life and it was great to discuss life on the road as well as life at home with such a fine musician and human. Among those things I just mentioned, we also discuss European punk squats, through hiking the John Muir trail, pre-show routines, playing songs too fast live, practicing habits, preferred drum attire, the importance of fresh produce, and lots more. Thank you again for joining us! You are great, keep on living the best you can.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Musicians Guild welcomes Ken Vasoli (Vacationer, The Starting Line) Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

Welcome back! Good to be back. Good to have you here, thank you. I had to drop some heavy claims in my intro but you know how it goes. This week we are honored to have a very old friend step inside The Musicians Guild, a true musical craftsman and all around great human Ken Vasoli. You may know Ken(ny) as Vacationer or as fronting The Starting line. As always it was great to catch up with an old friend. We start the conversation with a decent bit of gear talk but we also get to discussing Ken's home studio, morning routines with the new dog, Vacationer song in a Superbowl commercial, his first tour, the recent Starting Line live stream concert and tons more. Thanks for supporting the show, for spreading the word, and all of your nice reviews and comments!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Musicians Guild welcomes Amber Carew (Saddle Creek Records) Feb 18, 2021

Show notes

This week we welcome Amber Carew to The Musicians Guild. Amber is A&R for Saddle Creek and if you don't know what that is we discuss the former and current meaning of that title somewhere in the conversation. I really appreciate the existence of people like Amber in the music industry as her ethos is informed by her coming from one of the most amazing places on earth; New Orleans. The sincerity and honesty with which she approaches her role in signing new artists as well as how she exists within this reality we all share is truly great. Also in this conversation we get into discussing the kind record deals to NOT sign, manic home cleaning, my industry person radar, how sobriety inevitably disappoints certain people, Amber growing up in New Orleans and coming up in the New Orleans music scene, how things get harder after you sign a record deal and much much more.

You, yes you. You are a great person, and I really appreciate you listening to my pod and taking interest in anything I make. I would be nothing without it, so thank you thank you thank you. I'll never stop being so grateful for it. I'll never stop saying it. Get over it.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Musicians Guild welcomes Brian Moss (Hanalei) Feb 11, 2021

Show notes

This week the Musicians Guild welcomes Brian Moss (Hanalei) to the hall of discussion. Brian is a musician from the Bay Area who now teaches high school but that hasn't slowed him down as he just finished a new Hanalei full length album which is set to be released on AF Records. Brian is a prolific songwriter as well as being a new father, surfer, and avid outdoorsman. In this conversation we discuss taking time off of teaching to go on tour, his minimalist beach dad approach with his baby, his early years growing up in Berkeley playing Gilman st and Berkeley Square, working on the latest Hanalei record, and lots of reminiscing amidst our many other talking points. Thanks so much for continuing to support the pod and thank you so much for all of your kind reviews and messages. You are an important part of The Musicians Guild.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Musicians Digest: Taking Hits from the Song Feb 04, 2021

Show notes

Musical musings downstream of consciousness feeding the cascade of activity. Thank you for being a part of The Musicians Guild!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Musicians Guild welcomes Porter McKnight (Atreyu) Jan 28, 2021

Show notes

We are back in session and this week we welcome Porter McKnight who is the bassist of Atreyu as well as a photographer and graphic designer. Porter is a human of many talents that has been able to focus his high energy self into accomplishing many tasks and maintaining a very high creative output. We catch Porter on a fine Saturday in January from his family farm in rural Alabama to discuss our approach to life, creativity, love, and existence. In addition to those things, we also get into Atreyu's process in completing their latest album, mastering our anxiety, Porter becoming a Twitch streamer, how I am not a real guitarist, how finding our passion is a true privilege, our meditation practices, how I am a master of failure, long drives from Alabama to California and so much more. Thank you for being a part of this forum.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Musicians Guild welcomes Brendan Kelly (The Lawrence Arms, The Falcon) Jan 07, 2021

Show notes

This week we are honored to invite Brendan Kelly into the hall of discussion. Brendan plays bass and sings in The Lawrence Arms and The Falcon and has other projects such as Brendan Kelly and The Wandering Birds. Brendan has also written for The Onion and creates some of your favorite articles for The Hard Times with this wonderfully dark sense of humor. We linked up on a Sunday evening during the holidays and had a nice time catching up and having a lot of laughs. In this episode we get into our love for Bay Area punk, why Fender Jazz basses are the coolest, coming up at The Fireside Bowl, the power of Op Ivy, being a father in a band, playing the War On Christmas show with an untreated case of pneumonia, and lots more. Thank you for being a part of this podcast. NO REALLY, THANK YOU SO MUCH. Ok I'm done yelling at you I'm sorry.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Musicians Guild welcomes Lucie Barinkova Dec 31, 2020

Show notes

This week we welcome Lucie Barinkova into the discussion hall. Lucie is a live sound engineer, tour manager, and production manager. Lucie has toured with Thundercat, Flying Lotus, The Hives, Refused, RX Bandits, Spoon, B-52s, The Knife, Spoon, Gaslight Anthem and currently is production manager for Usher and 88 Rising as well as working for many other bands that are not listed. Lucie is from Austria by way of Czech Republic. We get into a brief history of how her family fled communist Czechoslovakia and how she got into being a front of house engineer. In addition to her history, in this conversation we discuss her always having an accent in all the different languages she speaks, her first show doing sound for Oi Polloi, her production manger rider, studying to become a healer, her favorite kinds of bands to mix, feeling gratitude during the show, sneaking her way back across borders, dealing with The Hives onstage insanity and their sweaty stage suits and lots lots more. Thank you for listening!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Musicians Guild welcomes Joey Vannucchi (From Indian Lakes, Joe Vann) Dec 17, 2020

Show notes

This week The Musicians Guild welcomes Joey Vannucchi (From Indian Lakes, Joe Vann). Joey is a musician and songwriter from California and after spending a while in Harlem after starting a coffee shop there, he returned to the land he grew up on to build his own tiny house and settle. We talk about that and also get into recording an album at Sound City Studios, his entrepreneurial ethics, his love for Deftones, music we dislike but still listen to for research & development, some family history including how his grandfather was a kicker for the 49ers, and lots more. Thanks you for listening and spending time with us!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Musicians Guild welcomes Peter Tsouras (Be Well, Fairweather) Dec 10, 2020

Show notes

This week we welcome Peter Tsouras into The Musicians Guild. Peter is a guitarist from Washington DC and plays in Be Well and Fairweather among other bands. Peter is also a museum technician in the museum wonderland of DC, and his museum focuses on Byzantine and Pre-Colombian art. Among many other things we discuss his museum work, what he likes to listen to in his workshop, the Gibson Goldtop Les Paul, when Fairweather and RX toured together in 2003, old guy skateboarding, seeing Fugazi at the 9:30 Club, the Rock n Roll Ramada in Detroit, Green Jello (the band), how the Be Well record is a youth crew record for grown-ups, Jawbox, and sleeping positions for his old man body. Thank you so much for all the kind reviews and feedback. I can never say it enough; THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the support, the DMs, and the kind words about the podcast. Just you listening is more than I could ever ask for. Wishing you all love and stable happiness.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.