Our guest this month is the inimitable Harry Shearer, an actor, comedian, bassist, musician et al whose voice you’ve definitely heard if you’ve ever watched an episode of The Simpsons. Harry also starred as bassist Derek Smalls in what is perhaps the most influential comedic movie of all time, Spinal Tap. Besides inventing the mockumentary format alongside his co-star Christopher Guest, the members of Spinal Tap wrote their own hilarious, satirical songs in a takedown of rock’n’roll pomposity and self-importance of the early 80’s. As the voice of a handful of iconic cartoon series, The Simpsons, greatest characters (Mr. Burns, Smithers, Flanders, and Principal Skinner) Shearer cemented his place in American pop culture for good. These days Harry hosts his own podcast, Le Show, lives in his adopted city of New Orleans, and is about to release a new star-studded Derek Smalls album. We talked to Harry about the creative links between comedy and music, dealing with performance anxiety, and even Wayne's World II. Oh, and he loves iZotope plug-ins! Excellent!
In this months Can/Am Games segment, co-hosts Sean and Geoff get into it over using 4 tracks versus using infinite tracks in one’s recordings. And on our Song Imploder segment, our two hosts finally agree about something in their discussion of the production of Radiohead’s recently released b-side “I Promise” from OK Computer.
"I Promise" - Radiohead https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sFvFVkeGVg