Third Gear Scratch

Episode 187 - Vasily Deris Nov 06, 2024

The service industry has always been in actor Vasily Deris' blood, seeing as how his family owned a group of restaurants in Crown Point IN just south of Chicago. He had been working 12 hours a day in multiple restaurants each for more than a decade but his true calling is on the stage; any and all stages. Since deciding to refocus his existence into the lights he's taken his powerful singing and acting talents to many hallowed Chicago stages in performaces of Bat Out Of Hell: the Meatloaf Musical, Groundhog Day, Kinky Boots, and is currently finishing a 2 month run at Writers Theater in Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812. But his biggest break may have been landing an agent which pretty quickly turned around into impactful screentime on FX's The Bear, Shining Girls Apple TV+, Showtimes Shameless and now a holiday feature film with Ben Stiller coming later this year. The SAG-AFTRA strike stuck a dagger in not just his work but the entire biz and Vasily still has a toe in the service industry. But you may want to put your order in quick because soon he'll be too busy.

Episode 186 - Chris Simpson Oct 23, 2024

Going back to school to study World Religions just seemed like the right thing to do for Chris Simpson, the hugely talented solo artist operating under Mountain Time and formerly of the bands Mineral and later The Gloria Record. Minerals influence and impact from the late 90's cannot be overstated from their albums the Power of Failing and then EndSerenading, before getting signed to Interscope Records and then promptly disbanding. Dream Homes (Spartan Records) is the new record from Mountain Time and it sprawls and inspires awe with walls of sound including horn and string sections and loose arrangements that Chris danced with for over a decade while also raising four kids with his wife in Austin. oh and now going back to school. Dream Homes of course reflects his love of giants like Big Star, Neil Young, the Band, George Harrison, Leonard Cohen. But mostly if reflects Chris at his best.

Episode 185 - Gerald Dowd Oct 08, 2024

Gerald Dowd is the rare working musician who is actually making his living directly from his drumming gigs with an extremely wide range of musicians, from Eddie Vedder to Mavis Staples to Robbie Fulks to Neko Case to Justin Roberts, not to mention fantastic players that you may not have heard or be aware of. In addition, he's a songwriter of the first order playing a brand of country music that tips its cap just slightly without ever aping a certain artist or style. On his most recent solo release Fathers Day, his songs are straight from his soul and reflect exactly who he's become as a father and husband making his way in life, with narratives sometimes hilarious but also achingly poignent and heartfelt. After graduating from music school in Boston in the late 90's studying jazz and classical percussion, he found his way to Chicago and spent 20 years traveling the US and the world playing every small venue with various outfits, at which point he'd embedded himself within the Chicago scene and became the go-to hire for so many. Gerald is also a crazy man by staging fundraising events called the Day Of The Dowd in which he plays drums for 13 hours straight with 12 different bands to raise money for local food banks, pantries and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Great rap with the real deal.

Episode 184 - Blake Fleming Sep 24, 2024

After 13 years of teaching percussion as an adjunct faculty member at a nearby college in upstate New York, Blake Fleming was unceremoniously let go, common with many colleges and shrinking enrollment that is plaguing the academic world. But the loss of this relatively low-paying gig was a blessing of sorts for Blake, a ground breaking drummer who entered the collective conscious with his avant punk band of the 90's Dazzling Killmen, then Laddio Bolocko, followed directly by a stint as a founding member and drummer in The Mars Volta. He used his new-found freedom to channel his creative energies into finishing and releasing a new album of percussion-only music, one that forges an EP from 2020 called Drum Killah with new material that has become his newest release called The Beat Fantastic. It's an eclectic and powerful testament to the tones created by only percussion instruments, revealing much more nuance and melody and actual note from each drum in pieces that feature no stringed instruments or keys of any sort. Blake is also an author of note after he released his first book in 2017 called The Book Of Rhythm (Skin and Stick Publishing) an exhaustive archive of rhythms containing every possible rhythmic combination derived from a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9-beat grouping as well as every combination derived from a 12-beat grouping. With The Beat Fantastic he's offering rock-solid proof of the power of percussive music.

Episode 183 - Brandon Butler Sep 10, 2024

When the highly respected label The Numero Group approached Brandon Butler, the voice and heart of KC heart throbs Boy's Life, about doing a retrospective of his influential band, his initial thought might've been there's not enough material to reissue, considering they only released 2 full lenths in their short tenure. What he hadn't considered was they were purchasing their entire catalog of 7" recordings and split collabs with bands like Christie Front Drive and Vitreous Humor, turning their rerelease into a 4 LP celebration of this foundational band from Kansas City MO. His career is one of a troubador and seeker always pushing and growing. His evolution over the years of his different bands from The Farewell Bend, to Canyon and on to Six Bells and through a prolific solo career that has seen him blossom from indie rocker to thoughtful and knowledgable musician with command over not only his lyrical narrative but also his voice and the machinations of theory, allowing him to make the music he hears in his head. He's a dedicated father, husband, a talented luthier and a hardass worker with a growing remodeling business in his adopted town of Louisville KY. With the reissues and a few Boy's Life shows in the near future, Brandon's at the top of his game indeed.

Episode 182 - Eric Abert Aug 21, 2024

In September of 2020, deep into a pandemic that seemingly had no end in sight, Life and Times bassist Eric Abert made a big decision to move from the place he'd called home for most of a decade, Chicago, and to move back to Collinsville IL outside of St Louis. It wasn't for nothing; in fact it was for a lot of reasons. He and his new bride wanted stability, a house, a solid job, and a child in a time when there was very little stability and no one was certain what the future would hold. He landed a great job at his brothers' digital printing business Pic The Gift, they soon found an amazing house there that would have cost $750k in Chi, and at the same time realised they were pregnant and welcomed a beautiful baby boy 3 years ago. Erics previous band Ring, Cicada (54 40 Or Fight!) had disbanded or gone dormant since his departure to join Life and Times in KC, but now they were all back in the St Louis area. But grown men have grown up life things to do and rocking ain't always at the top of the to-do list. The pandemic, the recent release and rebirth of Shiner also put off the opportunities to get back with Life and Times, so Eric has been missing a big part of his life up to that point: rocking. Well things are looking up in that dept with a recent Ring, Cicada reunion show and now BROASIS, (our Oasis cover band btw) is back in the swing. Could it be that L&T will live again in the near future? Eric has been living his best life and now it seems to only be getting better.

Episode 181 - Coley Dennis Jul 17, 2024

Guitarist Coley Dennis is the heartbeat of his band Maserati since their inception in very early 00's and continues to be that even when they have to play live and tour without him. It would appear almost like a franchise to the uninitiated until you realize how connected this band is and has been over the years, slowly growing their Athens/ATL fanbase internationally and in the states. Now the shows are much bigger, more fests, more attention, but Coley, as a chef and restaurant owner of The Local with his wife in LuSaunne Switzerland and also a faither of two young children, has to pick and choose his time away. Nevertheless he's steered this ship over the years as the now celebrate the anniversary edition of Pyramid Of The Sun (Temporary Residence LTD) record, originally released in 2010 after the tragic death of their outlandishly talented and beloved drummer Jerry Fuchs (!!!, LCD Soundsystem) after he fell down an empty elevator shaft. In grief, the band waited a year or more before releasing POTS and deciding to move forward as a band with Mike Albanese on the kit ever since. Coley has guided the band through the tumult while maturing as a father, husband and business owner but one who is clearly married to his band of brothers.

Episode 180 - Timothy Showalter Jun 26, 2024

In 2021, in full pandemic tilt, Timothy Showalter aka Strand Of Oaks, released a brilliant record in the vein of much of his stratospheric catalog called In Heaven (Dead Oceans) but decided not to tour on it, because that's what you didn't do during those heavy days; tour. Instead, he shut it all down. Stopped strumming and humming and stopped checking his emails and all other things that create anxiety for an artist who's been busting his ass for most of 20 years and who's making quite a dent in the music world with his intoxicating mix of Neil Youngian based songs and stories. There's always been an astral leaning, psychedelic connection to Strand of Oaks music, but for that moment it needed to cease, and all Tim Showalter wanted to do was paint. Not to mention, he was asked to join the cast of Mayans MC for 2 seasons, working with Edward James Olmos, something he'd never considered a possibility. The painting and acting paused, and the music started again. But this time he wasn't drawn to his guitar and the usual Youngian template. Instead he headed to his synthesizers and his long time engineer/producer/collaborator Kevin Ratterman (Elliot, Twin Limb) and rebirthed his muse in a different form, albeit one that continues to radiate what Tim does instinctively, move the listener. His new album Miracle Focus, is a fresh start and reflects his DIY ethic completely. It's still 100% Strand Of Oaks, long time fans will be relieved to know, but uses instruments that inspired him for this round of songs after the time off. Songs that give back what he's been living, Transendental Meditation, Yoga, Ram Dass and the feeling of joy that each moment creates, passes and recreates again infinitely.

Episode 179 - Aaron Stone Jun 11, 2024

As the frontman, face and heartbeat of his band My Epic, singer/guitarist Aaron Stone started his rock band long before he ever imagined having and wife and now 4 year old child and would never have believed his band would still be making music. in fact they're making music on a killer label, Tooth and Nail Records, with their newest LP Loriella due on June 27th. 2024. But even as he's grown older and now with a family, his bands' trajectory continues to rise as he's split his time between his music and his job--bivocational he calls it. As a kid raised in the church in North Carolina, indeed as a PK (preachers kid), his faith was big for him, and ultimately he majored in philosophy and got his masters in Theology. Throughout it all however, his rock band has been has greatest and most powerful voice for his ideaology without it ever being too heavy-handed for his crowd that often has "mixed or absolutely no belief" in a higher power. His music has been the conduit and has spoken the loudest for this thoughtful and articulate rocker with a larger calling.

Episode 178 - Steve Lamos May 14, 2024

U of I in Champaign / Urbana in the 90's was typical of many satelite college towns to big cities with a happening urban center, dive bars and house parties for the indie scene to procreate within. Drummer Steve Lamos' band American Football was one of the bands within that scene that made a record for Polyvinyl Records, played a few shows then broke up -- except the lore and legend of that special debut album grew like crazy for the next 15 years. Reunion tours in 2014 and reissues all sold like wildfire. An appearance on NPR Tiny Desk Concerts puts the bands success into stark relief. Throughout it all Steve's drumming has added a jazz-influenced mathy component to the jangle and chime of their guitar lines, also punctuating many songs with his trumpet lines throughout their catalog. But even more impressive is his career as Professor of English and Writing at UC Boulder for the past 20 years. He's written extensively on something he calls Resonant Literacy as a way of listeners of music describing what they're hearing in esoteric and abstract ways. As American Football embarks this summer on tours of the US and Europe in celebration of the 25th anniversary of LP 1, Steve's living his best artistic life with more to come!

Episode 177 - Chris Enriquez Apr 23, 2024

Somewhere in the late 00's, drummer Chris Enriquez felt the familiar and invetible societal pull of many artists to finally "get a real job" after over a decade with his bands On The Might Of Princes, Long Island hardcore/emo heros, and Gracer after Princes disbanded. He left it behind and began working as a brand rep for PBR at a time when that brand was making a major push to become indie-rocks beer of choice, which largely came to pass. But much was missing from his life at this time and he held that tide back with alcohol and cocaine until it became untenable at a certain point. It was near the time he joined with the band Spotlights in 2017 that he came out of his self-imposed "retirement" and reentered the rock world with a force. But he took what he learned from his time as a brand rep with PBR and has put it to great use as a Brand Partnership Director with Brooklyn Vegan, Alternative Press, The Hard Times and Revolver Magazines, respectively. As he restarted this life his rock life also got back in to top gear he's now drumming with not only Spotlights, but also Julie Christmas and Orange 9MM, not to mention his pandemic solo project called Light Tower. In the last couple of years there's been much excitement around On The Might Of Princes, and they had great success with a re-release of their final album, in addition to a sold out live performance on Long Island earlier this month.

Episode 176 - Conan Neutron Apr 02, 2024

There was a point maybe 10 years ago give or take, in which bandleader, frontman, guitarist, singer songwriter, podcaster and outsized personality Conan Neutron had a reckoning or awakening of sorts in regards to his bands and the dynamic within, which had taken a not-good turn. The Conan Neutron of today reflects on those regrets and missed opportunities and how he turned that into his successful podcast Conan Neutrons Protonic Reversal and his band since that fateful about face, Conan Neutron and His Secret Friends with Dale Crover (Melvins) on the kit and Tony Ashe (Trophy Wives/Coliseum) on the bass. This band and larger touring collective that he curates is the result of his embrace of who he is now vs back then. Their new album Adult Prom (Learning Curve) is a split LP with their friends in the band Lung and provide more proof that he's making the best music of his life. His bands Replicator and Victory & Associates, Mount Vicious and Household Gods set the stage for who his today, 380 episodes deep on Protonic Reversal and 7 albums deep making music with his best friends and musical heros, but this time sans drama.

Episode 175 - AC Paterra Mar 12, 2024

Deep into the pandemic, drummer AC Paterra and his musical partner in Zombi, bassist-keyboardist Steve Moore also went deep; deep into the sounds and songs that created who they have become today as a pillar of Relapse Records, a label often associated with noisy artists. However the songs that moved AC and Steve over these covid days were the yachti-rock based sounds of Gerry Rafferty, Paul Davis, Steely Dan and Barry Gibb. So faithful were these renditions that many assumed they were singing over the original tracks. This attention to detail doesn't escape their own original music they make as Zombi, a band releasing it's 7th album, Direct Inject, again on Relapse in late March '22. Sure, their band reflects the sounds of the 90's Pittsburgh heros such as Trans AM and a dash of Don Caballero, (to wit Phil Manley of TA guests on Direct Inject) but it would be short-sighted to assume this band is a cookie cutout of those giants. AC goes out of his way to avoid math in his deep grooves. In fact, Zombi continues to expand their sound and even include a touch of the yacht into their songs with Steve Moore's sax. AC is also busy as keyboardist for Grails and tours with them as well. He is living his best life as a full time musician who also happens to be making the best music of his life.

Episode 174 - Tristan Shone Feb 27, 2024

Putting a band together for a younger Tristan Shone 20 years ago was not as easy as he thought it might be, so he used his knowledge of mechanical engineering and sense of tenacious autonomy to create his own instruments that would allow him to make live music on his own; Music without the use of traditional instruments like guitars and drums and backingtracks a single musician might use to fill out the sound. Nope. Tristan and his fellow engineers created a few different unique tactile tools that he could oscillate in a live setting for different sounds, explosions and deep tones. It became Author and Punisher and is now 7 records into a 20 year career with his most recent records being released on noise-centric Relapse Records and touring with the likes of Tool. To wit: Justin Chancellor and Danny Carey both play on A&P's most recent release, Krüller. Tristans dayjob as a mechanical engineer with The National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at UCSD dovetails perfectly with A&P as both concentrations are using his knowledge of machines for use in more delicate forms with scientists and musicians. Indeed, he and his fellow engineers are now creating unique instruments (dronemachines.com) for different artists like ARCA for use in her experimental performances. He's a dedicated San Diegan now and also devotes time with Border Angels who make "water drops" in dangerous desert regions for migrants seeking asylum in the states.

Episode 173 - Tim Kasher - Live at Fitzgerald's Feb 13, 2024

Singer/songwriter/frontman Tim Kasher has been such a prolic maker of music over the past 25+ years with his bands Cursive and The Good Life and his solo records as his vehicles and conduits of creativity, so busy in fact that he has released a new album almost every year since 2000. Tim traveled from Los Angles to Chicago on Wednesday January 31st 2024 to spill about all of the "hows, why's and what in the world are we doing here" questions in front of great and responsive crowd at historic Fitzgeralds Nightclub in forever sunny Berwyn, just south of Chicago. We talk at good length about growing up in Omaha, The Saddle Creek Records era, which bunk is best on the tour bus (he likes the top), Taco Bell or Del Taco, which is his favorite record he's ever made, God, sportsball, some of his influences and what goes through his mind in the middle of the night. It was a fantastic evening all around for audience and performer and interviewer. One for the ages indeed.

Episode 172 - Jordan Zadorozny Pt Deux Jan 23, 2024

Multi-instrumentalist/producer/mixer Jordan Zadorozny created his one man band Blinker the Star in the mid 90's and made a huge splash with his 2nd album August Everywhere with Ken Andrews (Failure) behind the mixer. 28 years and 12 full length albums later JZ has released Animal Math (self-released), a highly enjoyable, forward-leaning and ambitious record that has hints of Jeff Lynne, Rush and a new wave type vibe that is unexpected and yet fits perfectly. Jordan is a producer and mixer with his own studio in rural Canada called Skylark Studios and gives him a literal playground to make his music and follow his muse while also double-fisting as a producer and mixer for hundreds of other artists. Our reluctant hero and host, Allen Epley, was invited by JZ to add vocals and lyrics to a song on this album entitled Throwing Dice that turned out amazing and it was a giant honor all the way around. This is Jordans' 2nd visit to the Third Gear Scratch studios, on December 16th, 2019 for our 28th episode.

Episode 171 - Jay Ryan Jan 09, 2024

Artist and musician Jay Ryan remembers the moment that he began to create the animal-based characters that inhabit his hand-printed concert and event posters that have become ubiquitous in the rock world; he was just out of college at U of I in Champaign and was bogging down and unable to finish a painting because of undiagnosed ADHD, so he began to draw his living room automan, over and over from different angles. At a certain point he just added a pair of wide-set eyes that instantly imbued the automan with life for him. Since then, in his shop called The Bird Machine in Skokie IL, using his fatigue of seeing the usual rock posters using skulls and evil imagery, Jay has created a world in his posters involving squirrels, toasters, teddy bears, bicycles, rhinocerous in a kaleidascope of colors, all with his trademark wide-set eyes that is at once mystically sweet and ethereal. His band from Champaign called Dianogah became a huge outlet for him in other mediums and they went on to release 5 full-length albums on Southern Records with John McEntire (Tortoise) and Steve Albini as producer before calling it quits in 2009. They continue to play occasionally today and give this inspiring creator another avenue to spread his unique vision of the world.

Episode 170 - AE Holiday Wrap-Up Of 2023!! Dec 19, 2023

Episode 170 of Third Gear Scratch, in which our hero, Alien Epilepsy waxes and wanes about this year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Twenty Three. It's been a year of triumphs and struggles which has seen AE release his first and only solo record 'Everything' (Spartan) and tour on it, create a new record with his band Shiner, their 6th, tour with his friend Ian Prince and their band Birdhands with amazing bands Russian Circles, Spotlights, Jawbox and Pelican. But it was in the mother of all coup attempts that saw AE join Sunny Day Real Estate onstage in the role of guitarist in his friend Greg Suran's absence for 10 shows this summer and fall of '23. Growing older as an artist presents its own challenges and those showed up this year too. However, it is the continued support from the Third Gear Scratch faithful that give so much back and help to steady the ship for this long-time artist and maker of things. Huzzah!!

Episode 169 - Eugene S Robinson Nov 29, 2023

Being a body-builder and MMA fighter, Eugene S Robinson was a bit of an anomoly as the charismatic front man for the band he founded OXBOW, and before that in Whipping Boy, a more traditional punk rock outfit in the early 80's. It's in his new book, A Walk Across Dirty Waters and Straight Into Murderer's Row: A Memoir (Feral House) that we learn how he navigated these sometimes murky waters with braun and confrontation, a style he had had time to perfect as a black man in the world of punk rock. He's a direct and brash writer with a penchant for vivid story-telling of his often turbulent life. He's been a contributing writer and/or editor-at-large for GQ, Vice, Hustler and many more magazines and continues to spill his musings on his different platforms; his vlog Show Stomper with Eugene S Robinson allows him a place to air politics and MMA issues, and his blog Look What You Made Me Do, is an often personal, moving and funny account of his life and times. The new OXBOW record Love's Holiday (Ipecac) features the song Lovely Murk which was recently nominated for a Grammy, a first for this human who continues to expand his brand in brilliant ways.

Episode 168 - Rob Zabrecky Nov 07, 2023

In 1993, Rob Zabrecky was certain he'd seen his future and that future was as a rockstar and frontman for local LA rockers Possum Dixon, his band that had just been signed to Interscope Records for a 3 record deal. But life is complicated. Indeed they had, by all accounts, a pretty great career as an "alternative" band with big tours and big producers like Rik Ocasek of The Cars. But like many other rock stars he fell prey to drugs and all the other issues that can derail a career. So he pivoted, as one does, to auctioneering, a fascinating career path over several years that eventually allowed him the time and resources to begin practicing a secret love; comedy, magic and sleight of hand. He's a handsome man, funny with a charismatic onscreen presence, having acted in commercials, TV and several feature length films in the post rockstar years. That charisma directly aided his new career path into a one-man show made of mentalism, magic and comedy that he has honed over the past 15 years. He now travels the world and has made quite a name for himself in this new career as Zabrecky and is deeply immersed in that distinctive niche, mingling and sharing the stage with some of the biggest acts in comedy and magic.

Episode 167 - Greg Suran Revisited (orig Aug 9, 2019) Oct 24, 2023

This is a pre-pandemic revisit to a previous episode from Aug 9, 2019 in which touring and session guitarist Greg Suran visited the TGS studios to talk about his globe-trotting experiences playing in his own Chicago-based band Cupcakes and BlueManGroup before joining The B-52's in which he still enjoys frequent gigs. He later joined Sunny Day Real Estate for their last two studio albums and subesequent tours, and has worked since that time steadily as a session player with the likes of Joe Walsh and Don Felder of the Eagles. He later was asked to join the house band on the set of the American Idol TV show, and most recently has enjoyed a long touring stint with the legendary Lionel Richie. His revisit to the TGS studio here is relevant because since he's been busy with Lionel, Greg was kind enough to ask your host AE to fill in for him in SDRE so it's a great recap with a man who's made music his life and his experiences have forged a human with a rich DNA tapestry.

Episode 166 - Tony Higbee Oct 10, 2023

The 18 year old version of a now grown Tony Higbee would surely be pinching himself for who he shares stages with these days. As a highschool rocker from tiny Monmouth IL, he was a bass player and had evolved into a serviceable chording guitarist in college. It wasn't until he began writing songs in Atlanta with his band Simple Sick Device in the early 2000's that he began to play guitar with more authority mainly because writing songs on guitar was so much more fluid, and that translated into becoming a real guitar powerhouse. He moved to Nashville and started his own band Caprice which begat East Side Gamblers, but it was his ability as a great singer that sealed the deal and he's ended up as an in-demand touring and session guitarist for Tom Keifer, lead singer of the 15x platinum hair-farmers Cinderella. Tom's solo albums have been a huge success and led to their collaborating for more than 10 years now and traveling the globe. That work also helped connect him with Brother Cane whom he also tours with as lead guitarist. He's a cancer survivor and an animal rescuer along with his girlfriend and is most certainly living his best life.

Episode 165 - Jeffrey Babko Sep 26, 2023

When this episode was recorded, the writers and actors strikes were both still going strong with no end in sight, so resident keyboardist for the Jimmy Kimmell Show, Jeff Babko, was able to find time in his normally very busy schedule to rap with me. In fact, the Kimmell show is just a piece of his crowded schedule, which includes being the touring pianist on stage with Steve Martin and Martin Short, in addition to composing for movie scores like the new Weird Al biopic, Toy Story 4, Encanto, but also recording with James Taylor, Jason Mraz, Shelby Lynne, Simon Philips, Sheryl Crow-- not counting the folks he's played with on Kimmell. He's a funny man, driven to make music with whomever and in whatever forum is available, but usually includes incredible musicians like Vinnie Colaiuta, Jeff Coffin, Matt Chamberlain, Mark Isham and many more. He's a podcast host for the Caffeinated Keyboardist, owns his own studio Tudor Tones and is generally just busy because what in the hell else is there in this life but to make music. He's got a new record called The Libretto Show with bassist David Piltch and is generally just ready to rip at all times.

Episode 164 - Ryan Patterson Sep 12, 2023

When heavier-than-anything Louisville band Coliseum began to sense their time together was coming to a close around 2015, band leader and seed-writer Ryan Patterson started to get some glimpses of his next move but was struggling to find his voice within that sylistic change. It was a move from guitar-bass-drums based pummeling into synth-synth-bass-drummachine based songs that were much more mid 80's Dark Wave than Coliseum's post hardcore earth-rattling. Turns out he found his voice in what would become Fotocrime with the help of producer J Robbins (who also produced several Coliseum records) and since 2017 has released a growing catalog of these darkly powerful analog synth-based records, their latest ACCELERATED (Artofffact). Ryan decided to take the Fotocrime recording process into his own hands for Accelerated in his own home studio which has grown to where he can record other projects as needed. It's a huge growth for this seeker, and one consistent with how he has chosen to exist with the help of his own business, SHIRTKILLER.COM which is quite successful in it's own right and gives Ryan an endless supply of subjects to create for and with.

Episode 163 - Salvation's Jason Sipe and Victor Riley Aug 29, 2023

Jason Sipe and Victor Riley of Chicago's own Salvation make a particularly powerful and vicious form of music that many might assume descends from grunge music of the 90's. On the surface perhaps, but this mighty trio, with the help of Mr Mike Lust, a prodigious producer (Urge Overkill, William Elliot Whitmore, everybody in Chicago) and two-time TGS guest has created a moving testament to laying it all out and flinging the resulting blood on the wall. MOCK (Reptillian), their 4th record and first with Reptillian conjures images of bands like Cows, The Jesus Lizard, Unsane, and yeah some very early Nirvana, but is also more immediate and complicated than those RIYLs. Victor and Jason represent what we all represent in the arts which is busting their respective humps to make music and take it on tour, by working jobs that allow them to do just that. In fact, they're both literally at their jobs on the day of this recording and it gives a nice peak into the life of a working musician.

Episode 162 - Ryan Raddatz Aug 15, 2023

Writer / actor Ryan Raddatz has spent the last 20 years in LA carving out a career in TV and film, first briefly as an actor, before realizing that writing was his true calling. He spent years writing on show for CBS like the recent reboot of The Odd Couple and The Neighborhood with Cedric The Entertainer and dozens more that may or may not ever get made, and has written over 5 seasons of episodes for PBS WordGirl. He's had a great career that has allowed him to raise a family in LA and live at a reasonable middle-class existence. But now the current writers strike is reaching into the months with no end in sight and issues of pay increases and the looming advent of AI and it's ability to pop out scripts with a few prompts can end careers for not only writers but many others in the food chain of the biz. Actors are fighting for Image Privacy as studios will use AI to lift their faces in crowd scenes. Fantastic insight from this great writer.

Episode 161 - Niko Wenner Aug 01, 2023

Guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Niko Wenner has been seeing life through a very different lens since the pre and post pandemic years brought him loss and big gains; his father died and went through a job change and saw some very tough times. But it also brought him a newborn child, his daughter, now almost 3 and has changed how he sees the world and makes music with his long time cohort OXBOW, who have a new record Love's Holiday (Ipecac Recordings). It's a record that is surprisingly straightforward, especially for a band that has been in the middle of the ven diagram between noise, punk, art rock and music concrete. Working with producer Joe Chicarelli (Strokes, Oingo Boingo, Michael Bublé, U2) over the pandemic brought out the rock band in them as he gently suggested that maybe going a little more traditional might in fact be the thing that makes this record stand out for this celebrated experimenting band of over 30 years. Niko is a highly educated and trained classical and jazz player, but can also throw it down with the best of the rockers. It's another brick in the fantastic wall of music that OXBOW has been making for their entire career.

Episode 160 - Jason Gagovski Jul 18, 2023

In it's infancy, drummer Jason Gagovski's band Sweet Cobra, was always a 4 piece unit; a giant, crushing, throbbing and roaring missive of urgent importance. The move from 4 to 3 piece however was not their decision, as Matt Arluck had cancer that ultimately took his life, leaving them at a loss for a moment until deciding to move forward as a trio. Sweet Cobra's sound has historically been a highly evolved echo of the giants that came before them. And they are still are that, albeit one that has grown it's sound exponentially on their new record Threes (Hawthorne St), where melody and nuance and reverb state their case boldly and successfully. Jason is the engine behind the band and is not only a talented drummer but a gifted graphic designer who freelanced for a long time before landing his current gig at the Field Museum here in Chicago. In addition to maintaining Sweet Cobra, Suicide Note before it, touring with Cloakroom, creating a side project with Sarah Olmsted called Rows Arc, he's also a proud father of young man that has highlighted and augmented his entire reality and that clearly is evident on this new record of his.

Episode 159 - Laurent Schroeder-Lebec Jul 05, 2023

Laurent Schroeder-Lebec's love of heavy, ground-breaking, earth-shaking music is well established by his band Pelican and their diverse discography over the past 20 years. But somewhere around 2012 LSL began to feel the tug of a different calling; starting a family and supporting that family to the best of his ability, and that included becoming beverage director for Big Star here in Chicago. Certainly Pelican had been experiencing success and was making money as a professional band, one that tours 8 months of the year and can sustain itself when not on the road. But raising a family is a different beast so he made the tough decision to leave Pelican. Shredder Dallas Thomas filled Laurents role heroically for several records until just recently when the band began to reissue their first 3 records on Thrill Jockey with new remasters and in the case of the last reissue, The FIre In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw, they were able to add a new remix in addition to remaster by original engineer Greg Norman, with spectacular results. These reissues sparkle and roar in all the right places and bring these records to the sonic level of later releases. With Laurent firmly back in the band, Pelican have been enjoying their reunification and showing the world they still got that thing that put them on the map in first place: the fire in their throats!

Episode 158 - Jim Hanke Jun 20, 2023

When Vinyl Emergency podcaster Jim Hanke was in school at UW Milwaukee with a double major in Communications and Journalism, he probably never dreamed that one of his future endeavors would be an answer to a question on the famous game show Jeopary. But that's what happened with Biscuits and Jam, a podcast he was producing for Southern Living Magazine. He spent a couple of crucial years there and helped to transform that show into a Jeopardy-answer-sized-pod, but only after producing his own beloved pod called Vinyl Emergency. This podcast has been a labor of love over the past 5 years and has grown from interviewing nobody's like Allen Epley to rapping with somebody's like Adam Duritz from Counting Crows, Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Chris Shifflet of Foo Fighters about what vinyl has meant to them. Jim has moved from Southen Living on to the Audacy company where he now produces many shows for them in addition to VE still going strong, and raising a beautiful family in the Chicago burbs.

Episode 157 - Travis Talbert Jun 06, 2023

Travis Talbert has made the music biz his living, or maybe it's the music that made him do it. He's a touring and session pedal steel player and guitarist for other touring artists like Arlo McKinley but has also busied himself with his band Frontier Folk Nebraska and now more recently with his solo music as Mavis Guitar. He's been releasing music under that moniker for some time now but his most recent offering, Tony Delks' 53 Point Game (self-released) is an expansive and eclectic mix but still stands as cohesive and focused. It's music that uses traditional instruments phrasings but has a kind of meditative ambience to it that transcends the trappings of folk or rock. He's doing all this while teaching guitar/piano/pedal steel, touring at length, working at his fave record store Shake It Records and raising a beautiful family.

Episode 156 - Chris Neville May 23, 2023

Chris Neville is a busy man; As the core member and founder of Tributosaurus, a collection of session killers from Chicago that regularly honor a certain artist or band with sold-out highly perfected tribute concerts featuring almost granular details of that artists recordings (i.e. 6 people to play a proper Rush concert), as a composer for a huge gaming platform called Everi Holdings, as a longtime venue owner whose club fell victim to the pandemic, and as a weekly performer in various ensembles including but not limited to his newest band of assassins, The Meadowlark Lemons. Chris has remained humble and driven to make his life revolve around his strongest skill set as band-leader, keyboardist, singer and all-around show man. He's also found time for the most important parts of life, being a dad and husband while following his dreams.

Episode 155 - Tim Rutili May 15, 2023

Tim Rutili is not only from the influential and highly regarded art folk skronk rock band Califone, he in fact is that band. Certainly not to say he's not the only person who makes Califone Califone, indeed that band is more like a collective, often made of 15 humans or more for any given record, and it continues to involve many of the same talented humans he's been making music with for the past 30 years including his time as the main maker in 90's SubPop heros Red Red Meat. So it goes with Califone's new offering, Villagers (Jealous Butcher) due May 19 2023, and follows the theme of these friends exploring new sonic territory, widening their scope of influences and finding lyrical themes of seemingly mundane moments which slowly unfold into profound epiphanies. It's a giant record; a huge step forward but also on par with his best offerings. Tim Rutili is a person with a complusion to create, whether it's composing for film scores, directing and scoring his own films, working on his own paintings, or riding the Califone machine into a new record for the 15th time in 23 years, he will happily continue to satisfy this need as long as he is able.

Episode 154 - Gabe Larson Apr 17, 2023

Gabe Larson was actually closer to his maternal grandfather than his paternal grandfather, Waldemar or Wally, the one he named his band after and most likely the man from whom he inherited a bit of his sadness and ennui. And it's this general bout with depression that plays a central role on his new album called Ruthless (Self-Released), an expansve and intimately beautiful record that has taken most of 5 years to create. In that time, Gabe and his brother Nick carefully rebuilt a 130 year old barn on his Eau Claire WI property, outfitted it with studio gear, and then began to track this big recording, which accurately reflects the open-sky of his surroundings. The pandemic allowed him time to finish his work and to make a baby, Ruth, who was influential in the songs as a matter of course. In his young life after graduating college with a music degree, Gabe has worked tirelessly in decidedly non-music professions like school bus driver, roofer, and now owns his own business with his brother refinishing hardwood floors all over the Chippewa Valley. But most importantly, he's made a career-defining record that makes him so very happy.

Episode 153 - Jerry A Lang Apr 10, 2023

The idea to rerelease a remixed version of The Badge, a notoriously anti-cop song, from Jerry A Lang's highly influential punkrock band Poison Idea's 3rd album Feel The Darkness (Vinyl Solutions/American Leather) was not exactly his. In this chat it becomes clear how a current Portland police officer approached him and the idea was hatched. In the mid 80's Jerry A (as he was known) had made his mind up to live his life as he saw fit--make punkrock, tour punkrock, drink, drug, heavy drug, rinse and repeat--until the mid 00's at which point members began to die off for various reasons, the biggest loss being guitarist Tom "Pig Champion" Roberts by heart attack. Jerry has lived a focused and mostly clean existence since then and has channeled his new energy into a recent Covid era solo record From The Fire Into The Water (American Leather). In addtion, he wrote his biography Black Heart Fades Blue (Rare Bird Books) which ended up initally as 3 separate volumes, but now with the repress in sight, Rare Bird is putting all the volumes into one very large, Bible-sized tome for all to enjoy.

Episode 152 - Sarah and Mario Quintero Mar 28, 2023

Both Sarah and Mario Quintero of the post-everything band Spotlights have been guests on TGS previously, but never at the same time. It is clear that regardless of the music that they make together, beautifully crushing songs that push sonic boundaries with every release, these two are best friends and would be together even without this music. They're deeply in love and have a connection to being the best fucking band they can be and are proving it with every new release. Their newest, Alchemy For The Dead (IPECAC) is another perfect cog on Spotlights gear but sees them grow their brand in very big ways; the vocals and lyrical content on this record has pushed them beyond their post-post-post roots into territory relatively uncharted for them. They've always had singing on their records but it's a big jump for this band. They're embarking on a 9 week tour and explain exactly how they do it and how they make sure their children (aka their dogs) are taken care of while they're out proving it.

Episode 151 - Santi Garcia Mar 20, 2023

Producer Santi Garcia was just 12 years old when he approached the radio station in his town with an idea: his own radio show playing new music he loved. His exuberance and love of music led him to recording bands who came to him wanting to be recorded. He borrowed the only 4 track recorder in the small town north of Barcelona called St Feliu De Guixols and began plying the trade which would make his name and put bread on the table for his family to this day. Santi has expanded his successful studio, Ultramarinos Costa Brava, by including his brother Victor, who is now a sought-after mastering engineer at his own studio, Ultramarinos Barcelona. Both are always busy, recording and producing bands from the region like Standstill, Nueva Vulcano, and Delorean but has made fantastic recordings with Jeremy Enigk in his small studio that overlooks the Balearic Sea. Santi continues to live a music lovers dream in his small hometown; it's a beautfiul success story.

Episode 150 - Pete Stahl Mar 13, 2023

DC punk icon Pete Stahl and his guitarist brother Franz were heavily influenced by their father who was in the biz in the 60's as a band manager. Pete has ridden his simple and profound love of music through a long life of traveling the globe not only as a musician with his band. the godfathers of the DC Dischord scene, Scream (featuring former member Dave Grohl), but also with Wool, Goatsnake and many others, but also as a tour manager for Rival Sons and Coheed and Cambria. It's a life that is as thrilling as it is exhausting but this ageless creator continues to make outstanding music for his masses and it continues with a new record from Scream called DC Special (Dischord), their first in over 25 years and includes contibutions from Bad Brains members and of course, Dave Grohl.

Episode 149 - Rhonda Lyne Feb 13, 2023

As Executive Director of the Midwest Music Foundation, Rhonda Lyne sees it as her duty to see through the vision of her friend and musician Abigail Henderson, a talented singer/songwriter with her band The Gaslights in the mid 00's. Abigail was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and a benefit called Apocalypse Meow gave her and her husband Chris Mecke a platform on which to create the MMF. Abigail passed in 2013 and Rhonda as taken it upon herself to see the vision through and has not only done that but has created a team and board of professionals to create a network to help local KC area musicians with health care costs, advanced artists careers through performance opportunites and expanding the social safety network for midwest musicians. She does this in addition to a full-time job and pursues this agenda like a musician would find the time to write and create; she finds the time to help the creators.

Episode 148 - Stephan Hawkes Jan 30, 2023

When Stephan Hawkes was but a teenager, he and his band at the time called Tibanna, made their first recording with Paul Malinowski of Shiner in the midwest, far away from his hometown of Portland OR. That band ran its course as bands do, but Stephan caught the bug for recording and fell in love with every part of the process. Not only is he a gifted guitarist and drummer as exhibited in his longtime band called Shelter Red, which released their 5th full-length album in 2021, Beast of the Field, he turned out to be a prodigious recording engineer, working with many many bands and establishing his name as the go-to guy in PDX. In the past few years he's migrated not only into mastering music for many artists (think Air Supply!) but has also migrated into the City of the Angels, bringing him that much closer to artists who need his talents and enthusiasm.

Episode 147 - Taylor Dupuis Jan 23, 2023

Singer/actor Taylor Dupuis has had the same dream as many of us dreamers of living a busy and successful artistic life and she's definitely been living that nocturnal event out to a T. Her band Roanoke which she started with her then boyfriend Joe Beesley has just released their new EP called Wolf Motel (Kill Rock Stars) and it is a shining example of the professionalism and attention to detail typical of her career thus far. The indie film Lost Heart is one of the standouts of her acting career as she continues to fine tune her chops while also recalibrating exactly what it means to have success in a chosen career. It's a long road and she's the one driving the bus for as long as needed.

Episode 146 - Alan Cage Jan 16, 2023

After more than 15 years of drumming for Quicksand, Seaweed, Burn and before--and after that, Beyond, with a fair amount of storm and stress in the Quicksand years in particular, Alan Cage wanted to prove to himself that he could master something else in his life, completely unrelated to anything musical, and he did. For 10 years he had a successful career as a labor organizer and besides a couple of one-off gigs for other bands, had almost zero connection to his former life. Quicksand had put aside the blood and guts to release their first studio record in almsot 20 years with Interiors (Epitaph) in 2017. It's success convinced them to make another in 2021 Distant Populations (Epitaph) and are still aglow from their long tour last year with Clutch and Helmet. This second act includes the welcome addition of a family and a career giving drum lessons in NY when he's not killing with Quicksand.

Episode 145 - AE Reflects On The Last and New Year Jan 02, 2023

Big A is back from an end of year hiatus and takes Episode 145 of TGS to reflect on the year that was 2022 and some positive thoughts on the year ahead, 2023. Last year was tough for many people for many different reasons but we're all hoping for a fresh start moving forward, beginning with the release of AE's first and only solo record called 'Everything' due out on Spartan Records on Jan 6th 2023 with a big release show at the Empty Bottle in Chicago the same day. There are always many irons in the fire for our hero and this year is no different. With the release of 'Everything' new possibilities are opened, while the joy and beauty of creating continues to pay big dividends in the emotional, intellectual and sometimes financial well-being for those who are creators and take the leap of faith to live this unique hustle.

Episode 144 - Kendall Wind Nov 14, 2022

Growing up in upstate New York, young Kendall Wind took piano lessons before migrating to bass guitar and leaning into The Rock Academy founded by School of Rock's Paul Greene. Her piano knowledge would later inform her bass and guitar playing in the band she put together at Rock Academy with singer Sam Quartin called The Bobby Lees, now on it's 3rd LP Bellevue out now on Mike Patton's Ipecac Records. She's working with Jon Spencer regularly now who also produced the bands 2nd record before working with Vance Powell on Bellevue. It's been a whiplash ride for Kendall and The Bobby Lees, touring heavily since their inception. Unsurprisingly they were a bit relieved when the pandemic offered them time to make new music and refuel the machine.

Episode 143 - Van Wilks Nov 07, 2022

Austin TX has evolved for better and worse over the past 50 years and Texas blues guitar rock legend Van Wilks has been witness to and in the middle of all of it. In fact the city named November 6th Honorary Van Wilks Day in 1997. Van gets much love from guitar wizards like Eric Johnson and Billy Gibbons, and songwriting masters like Christopher Cross, each of whom were featured on Van's last record 21st Century Blues. Billy and Van have been old school road dogs for many moons and he's written several songs for ZZ Top over the years. But he's also been a long time teacher of his brand of guitar magic for young and old. Great rap with a legend.

Episode 142 - Jarboe Oct 31, 2022

Right after Jarboe had migrated from the Deep South to New York in the early 80's, she saw Michael Gira and Swans perform and knew that was her destiny. Swans impact today is felt in bands like FACS, Godflesh, Neurosis, Isis and Napalm Death with Jarboe and Michael as the figure heads of Swans. Jarboe's career is 33 albums deep between solo work/collabs/Swans, and now is reissuing one of her most enduring and celebrated solo albums Sacrificial Cake (The Circle Group) from 1985 and is also heading out on tour to Europe for her first shows since the pandemic shutdown. She's an electrifying and eclectic singer, a practiced and studied performer and a passionate human with a long story that is still going strong.

Episode 141 - John Lombardo Oct 24, 2022

Many musicians, waiting for their new record to be pressed, have mused to themselves about starting a vinyl manufacturing business, but John Lombardo actually put a real plan together with 3 other friends to create Smashed Plastic here in Chicago. John pieced together this coalition from his life and times within the music business as a record store guy, a tour manager, and with his own bands in the Cleveland music scene and it has seen unbelievable success despite the slow downs in manufacturing since the pandemic because of supply chain issues among others. Smashed Plastic set out to create a new standard of ordering online transparency between artist and manufacturer instead of the long-standing model of little communication and no sense of progress through the process. Illuminating rap with a hard working change-maker.

Episode 140 - Ben Jorgenson Oct 17, 2022

When Ben Jorgenson began to write a new record for his band Armor For Sleep, their first new music in over 10 years, his mind began to conjure a dystopian world, a post apocalyptic Earth with a museum that held pieces of the old world to remind us all of the past. It also happened that he was working through and dealing with a difficult divorce, and those troubles inevitably found their way into the narrative as he dovetailed them into a piece of music he called The Rain Museum. It's a dark and beautiful peice of work that is easily their most accomplished. Now AFS is gearing up for another tour and their fans have grown with them and refuse to let go as they pack in to every venue and sing every dark and beautiful word.

Episode 139 - Sarah Shook Sep 26, 2022

The pandemic takes its toll on everyone in different ways and Sarah Shook is not unique in that it yielded a new record, but this music was a new sort of fruit from a fresh vine. Sarah's delivery and metrics have up to now hewed to an 'outlaw country' quilt but these songs stood out from their work with Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. They leaned towards pop, yes, but a spartan and economized version of smart indie rock with melodies that also dovetail their country roots. The result is a new band Mightmare and the accompanying debut album Cruel Liars (Kill Rock Stars) due October 14th '22 with tours to follow. It's been a dusty road for this ex-bartender, atheist, vegan, pansexual and now sober singer/songwriter, but the future is very bright indeed.

Episode 138 - Patrick Fabian Revisited Sep 12, 2022

AE goes back in the vault for a loving reexamination of his conversation on with actor Patrick Fabian (Ep. 37) of Better Call Saul as the high powered attorney Howard Hamlin. We talk about his time and tenure on BCS as that iconic series has just wrapped its final season, in which Patrick's character is central. There's even more poignancy and relevance in the rearview context of the Covid pandemic looming just after this conversation. Patrick is a rigorously prepared for every audition and for when he walks on the set. He has relentless drive and is relentless about staying ahead of the hustle and to expect disappointment along the way. A thoughtful rap with an absolute pro.

Episode 137 - Zach Barocas Aug 29, 2022

When drummer Zach Barocas began to play with his legendary band Jawbox again in late 2017 to rehearse for some reunion shows, he wasn't sure exactly how that might play out given they hadn't been in the same room together for about 20 years. Turns out, it went so well they're still playing shows now and in fact will be playing Riot Fest in September 2022. Zach has been creatively busy with his bands The Up On In, The Bells, and now New Freedom Sounds with some guys like J Robbins, Gordon Withers and Tom Cisneros that makes music that is related to but doesn't live in the same house as standard jazz. It's a very fresh take on that medium built and arranged by Zach over the pandemic months, at the same time that he and his wife have opened a boutique stationary shop in Brooklyn called Measure Twice that has become a...calling card for Zach.

Episode 136 - AE REFLECTS (ON BIRTHDAYS AND COLLEGE-BOUND KIDS) Aug 22, 2022

Our handsome host Allen Epley goes guestless for this episode to take time to reflect and wax on the state of his state of mind. It is the eve of his 54th birthday and the week before his twins fly the coop for college and leave their parents alone at home at once, both elated and broken; free at last or utterly rudderless. Raising kids is a dangerous business; to love someone so much with the knowledge that if all goes right, they will leave you in 18 or so years and break your heart. Turning 54 is an achievement also considering the life spent making music and what it has taken to make ends meet and still make quality music for long periods of time and create relationships across the globe, not to mention with the guys in your band. It's these revelations that are pondered and given thanks and gratitude for, and for the listeners of this therapy session masquerading as a podcast.

Episode 135 - Ian Prince Aug 15, 2022

Drummer Ian Prince couldn't have predicted that at this time in his life he'd be making music again with the same two men who he really needed time away from in 2004 when Houston had been on the road for long stretches. After Houston's implosion, he formed Story of the Sea with his brother Adam Prince to make several albums of high level song craftsmanship, he played with Minneapolis' Porcupine, Soul Asylum and famously also BirdHands. But it's Houston that made such a profound impact on their fans with their brand of post pre indie prog shoe staring. Not only have they been making new music and indeed a new album to boot(!) they've also been enjoying reentering each others lives again to embrace the thing they do the best.

Episode 134 - Terence Hannum Aug 08, 2022

Terrance Hannum, synth-ist and keyboardist in his darkly beautiful drone-core band Locrian, doesn't set out everyday to be the most creative human on earth, but more often than not, something does indeed get made. Between his job as a professor of 3D Printing and digital fabrication and his life in Locrian, he also manages to write award-winning fiction, pulls haunting images out of his soul for his oil paintings and sculptures of dead flowers, and uses cassette tape to powerful effect of structured minimalism. Locrian has a new record called New Catastrphisms out August 12th (Profound Lore) produced and recorded mostly live by none other than J Robbins (Jawbox/Burning Airlines) to profound results. It continues with their string of celebrated records in a vein of music not unlike the beautifully disturbing and heavily weighted pieces of Hildur Guðnadóttir and the Chernobyl soundtrack.

Episode 133 - Stephan Howard Jul 25, 2022

Stephan "The Kid" Howard was christened thusly by the old blues players he first began gigging with as a bassist when he was only 13 years old in Chicago, and introduced him to a universe of music and travel that changed his life in every way. His time as both drummer and baritone guitarist in the influential Chicago band Pinebender in the 90's put him in contact with musicians that continue to alter his trajectory to this day. The Kid has had his hands in so much timeless music with folks like William Elliot Whitmore, Mike Lust, James McCartney, Keely and Maura Davis in Denali (née Ambulette) and BlueManGroup. But his life has been marked by the time spent in the hospital and an immune system that has caused myriad problems, including having both hips replaced 7 times, but has never compromised his time making music.

Episode 132 - Joe Sib Jul 18, 2022

Comic Joe Sib is that rare human who takes new endeavors that might normally intimidate the rest of us as a challenge. His punk-rock band Wax struck gold in the early 90's with a hit song California and a video directed by Spike Jonze known as the burning guy running in slow-mo video, then parlayed the success from that band into starting Side One Dummy Records, a label responsible for bands like Flogging Molly, Gogol Bordello and Gaslight Anthem among many others. Later, after the success of touring on his one-man show "Joe Sib: California Calling" he mounted the most grueling of challenges and one he'd been contemplating : life as a stand-up comic. He's toured with Jim Breuer often, even opening for Metallica for a tour, and has been a headliner across the US for the past decade, centering on a story-telling style that belies his punkrock past and leans into his life as a family man.

Episode 131 - Clayton Brown Jun 27, 2022

Documentary filmmaker and my old homie Clayton Brown revisits the TGS confines for the 2nd time to chat about his new film in which he details the work of Doug Pagitt, an activist and progressive evangelical pastor who has been protesting current immigration policies by riding his bike along the US Border from San Diego to St Augustine. For this film, Clayton has teamed with his wife Kim Sullivan as co-director and their collab has been thrilling and fruitful. Clayton and I also detail our time together making music in our college band The Industry which begat Orchid which begat Shiner, and on tour our most recent project called SpaceSuit a few years ago. Great convo with a big brain and my great friend.

Episode 130 - Peter Moffett Jun 20, 2022

Pete Moffett has been working in the music industry as a drummer in the late 80's with bands like punkrock-forefathers Government Issue and also some guy named J Robbins, in the early 90's with Wool and Franz and Pete Stahl, and then again with J Robbins in the late 90's with Burning Airlines which rose mightily from the ashes of Jawbox. But his longest tenure has been that of touring drum technician for artists like Alanis Morrisette and Kelly Clarkson, and when this interview took place he was in Europe with Whitesnake and the Scorpions as he's tech'ing for legendary metal drummer Tommy Aldridge. It's a great catchup with a prolific bizzer and an all-around sweet dude.

Episode 129 - Trevor Shelley de Brauw May 16, 2022

Trevor Shelley de Brauw took 26 months to get Covid and waited even longer to release his new RLYR record (Gilead Media), the Pelican guitarists side project and secret hook up. The new self-titled record, their 3rd, is an orchestrated love letter to guitar rock riffs, post hardcore surges and ambient waves. Pelican is also busy as they face a Euro tour starting late May in support of the reissues of their first three records with rarities included on Thrill Jockey, and now welcome home original guitarist Laurent LeBec after a long successful tenure with Dallas Thomas of Swan King.

Episode 128 - Martin Bisi May 09, 2022

Martin Bisi has owned BC Studios since 1980 when he started it with Brian Eno and Bill Laswell and has been witness to it's growth from gritty avante-garde hub of the No-Wave scene in which he was foundational, working with Lydia Lunch, Swans, Foetus and Sonic Youth into a largely gentrified but still arts-centric village. He's a pioneer for his work with early hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa and his solo work is as ambitious and free as his no-rules production style with a large catalog under his wings. His newest work is with the band NEONNOONE and is on par with his finest releases. An inspiring and unquenchable talent.

Episode 127 - Evan Patterson May 03, 2022

The pandemic offered Evan Patterson an opportunity he hadn't had in years; to take some time off from touring with his earth-shaking band Young Widows, his solo outfit Jaye Jayle and with his ex-wife's band Emma Ruth Rundle after he played 210 dates in 2019. The breather has given him perspective on making music and why he does it. It also gave him time to refine his artistic and screen printing skills again, and a chance to try his hand at carpentry, which turns out he's also got game at. With new music from Young Widows currently percolating, Evan is optimistic and prolific in this Louisivlle springtime, and now he's even looking forward to touring again in the very near future.

Episode 126 - Michelle Bacon Apr 18, 2022

Bassist/Drummer/Journalist Michelle Bacon found her calling late in the game to start playing in bands (Frogpond/Other Americans/Katie Guillen and the Drive) and also have her finger on the pulse of the Kansas City music scene as Content Creator and Data Manager at 90.9 The Bridge. She has witnessed and participated in the growth of the talent pool in KC and has been able to assist the evolution of the scene at the Bridge. But when she founded The Band That Fell To Earth, a collective of musicians from the KC over the past 30 years who unite for the past 6 years to celebrate the music of Bowie, her level of influence shot sky high, as did her confidence. She's also curated a powerful series called Sound Minds that addresses mental health within the arts, which is often overlooked.

Episode 125 - Scott McCloud Apr 04, 2022

The rock and roll Scott McCloud grew up with in the 80's was a fantasy of glitz and glam far beyond the most ambitious of his dreams, until he heard punk rock in DC, and it all seemed very possible. Inevitable, even. His bands Soulside in DC and then Girls Against Boys out of NY were both highly influential heavy-weights. Between those bands, New Wet Kojak and Paramount Styles, this man has made over 20 full lenth records, influenced thousands, lived all over the world, with his stylishly tortured vocal delivery being his most enduring trademark. Now living in Vienna with a young family, he's prepping for tour in October in support of the reissue of House of GvB.

Episode 124 - Dr Debra Lynn Mar 28, 2022

When Conductor/Composer/Educator Debra Lynn cold-called Stewart Copeland's management about helping him stage a collegiate production of his opera, The Invention of Morel, she wasn't holding her breath. And yet, as fate would have it, they were working together not long after to stage it and have since collaborated on Police Symphonic arrangements and other projects, they remain tight with she as his "mentor" he says. We talk about the overlap in writing processes despite different worlds of music, the elements are about throwing paint on the canvas without forethought, and how her synesthesia allows her to see instruments as colors. She also sang and studied under my dad Arnold Epley and I can see his influence on her in the best way.

Episode 123 - Shiner Tour Reflections Mar 21, 2022

In this episode, Allen talks with each member of Shiner individually to get their own thoughts, reflections and obsevations of the most recent US Shiner tours. Bassist Paul Malinowski goes first from his Massive Sound Studio in KCK with sharp insights on touring without a sound man. Drummer Jason Gerken entertains as he's just arrived at Rancho de la Luna Studio to track with Chris Shinn, and guitarist Josh Newton pipes in from his home in LA on what it's like to have Mario Quintero as his proxy for some of the tour.

Episode 122 - Mario Quintero Mar 01, 2022

Guitarist/Drummist/Producist/Engineerist and now Managist Mario Quintero of Spotlights revisits the hallowed halls of TGS for an encore episode in which we prep for the Shiner / Spotlights tour as he spills all about his tenure as the proxy Josh Newton, we talk about his new project with Jason Blackmore called Sisters, his joint venture with Spotlights drummer Chris Enriquez as managers of several rising bands, what the future holds for Spotlights and why he prefers dogs to cats, but admittedly loves the taste of both...great chat!

Episode 121 - Craig Wedren Feb 21, 2022

Right before Craig Wedren's influential DC band Shudder To Think broke up in 1999 and sent him into a momentary career freefall, they had scored several films including Velvet Goldmine. Five years earlier, Shudder had their claim with a record called The Pony Express Record for Epic that was as polarizing as it was genre-twisting; artsy, prog leaning, angular and sexy rock songs set within complex arrangements; this work translated perfectly into his post-Shudder life and work as composer for movies like School Of Rock, Wet Hot American Summer, Laurel Canyon, Shrill, Glow and now the excellent YellowJackets, streaming now on Showtime.

Episode 120 - Sanford Parker Feb 14, 2022

It was the Chicago Wax Trax sound and roster that helped lure producer/musician Sanford Parker from the Florida Panhandle but it was his unique production style that made his name for him, starting with an EP for an unknown band called Pelican in 2003. The word was out and his influence and production schedule has only grown since then with bands like FACS, EyeHateGod, YOB, Voivod and so many others in addition to his own bands Buried At Sea, Minsk, The High Confessions. Yet after hearing his story you still understand his love and affection for classic country music.

Episode 119 - Mike Schulte Feb 07, 2022

Podcaster/Drummer Mike Schulte had no clue his career as drummer in DopeWalker with William Elliott Whitmore and in Pork Tornadoes, by far Iowa's biggest cover band attraction and his career as avid movie watcher throughout his life would translate into his most successful venture--The Confused Breakfast podcast, where three normal dudes dissect the movies of our lives. The Pork Tornadoes describe themselves as Beard Pop as they do mashed up versions of Beyonce hits to small arenas around IA, and Confused Breakfast has shot to the top of the most listened-to pods, and his day gig as real-estate tycoon might be a thing of the past if it didn't fit into his life-style so well. Shazam!

Episode 118 - Cheli Clayton Samaras Jan 17, 2022

Cheli Clayton Samaras is a high school buddy of mine and has spent the past 25 years working behind the camera on the biggest movies of our lives, (think Spider Man, Team America etc) as First Assistant Camera A. She spills the goods on her journey, from Louisville to LA and we talk about women behind the camera, run-ins with handsy blow hard directors, unsafe working conditions, 14 hour days, why the IATSE is so important at this juncture right after the Rust tragedy, and why life is so good for her after all her long hours at UPS.

Episode 117 - Greg Obis Jan 10, 2022

Greg Obis spends his days as part of the elite team at Chicago Mastering Services with Bob Weston (Shellac), his nights making angular new prog punk with his band STUCK, his dawns and dusks running his label Born Yesterday releasing music from some of Chicago's elite new crew like Cafe Racer and Mesh. The gig at CMS mastering records for a living is a dream job he doesn't take for granted, allowing him time to be creative with STUCK and diversify his output with his record label. It's a win/win/win sitch.

Episode 116 - Dave Elitch Jan 03, 2022

For drummer Dave Elitch, teaching the art of drumming isn't a day-job he holds until he can just float off his royalties from playing with artists like Justin Timberlake, The Mars Volta, Miley Cyrus, and M83 among many others, it's actually THE gig while playing with superstars is an added bonus. Dave has found a niche within the drum-educator sphere as one who can instantly "read" a drummer within 5 minutes and open new worlds for new players and vet drummers like Greg Bissonette, Jason McGerr (Death Cab) Ben Barter (Lorde), and even comic Bill Burr. His instructional series Getting Out Of Your Own Way is changing not just bad drum habits but also refocusing lives.

Episode 115 - Holiday Thoughts and Shiner Tour Report Dec 20, 2021

This guest-less version of TGS provides a wrap-up of the most recent Shiner tour and what a hero Mario Quintero of Spotlights was for literally saving the tour, COVID wrecking shop on our desperate existences, my Pitbull Katie Epley's recent surgeries and why she's our hero, why the vaccines are so important even now as we learn their limitations and capabilities, and the valuable currency in our lives known as "greeting strangers with a real smile". It's effectiveness is immediate and powerful. Try the experiment. Happy Holidays to the TGS Faithful. See ya's next year!!

Episode 114 - Jim Suptic Nov 29, 2021

Jim Suptic and his band The Get Up Kids were too young to play clubs in the 90's KCMO scene, so they went on tour and played houses and all-ages shows across the world, and quickly became place-holders in the Emo Icons category, on tour with and inspiring a litany of bands like Blink 182. Now Jim is part of a non-profit called the Steps of Faith Foundation that raises funds for prosthetics for recent amputees, and their signature event for the past 5 years is called Thundergong at the Uptown Theater in KC, starring KC native Jason Sudeikis (SNL/Ted Lasso) and an increasingly star-studded line-up including Michael McDonald, Sammy Hagar and Will Forte.

Episode 113 - Henry Owings Nov 22, 2021

The mind of Chunklet Magazine creator Henry Owings is a many tentacled beast, unable to be sated with just one calling or defined by one title. Archivist, author, designer, show promoter, comedian, producer, tour manager; he's lived, curated, celebrated and skewered, chronicled and helped to establish the Athens/ATL region as the bastion of heavy-duty indie rock history it is. His new book PLUS 1 : ATHENS Show Flyers From a Legendary Scene 1967-2002 puts his multiple talents on display and continues his reign as a fount of energy and infotainment.

Episode 112 - Ross Hurt Nov 14, 2021

When Rigs Of Dad started in IG, musician Ross Hurt had no idea he would have 85k followers in a scant few years. He's parlayed that into the excellent R.O.D. podcast and continues his musical journey started with his band Black Clouds in DC into his current project Burial Waves and their new EP Holy Ground (Dark Operative). It's a sea change in sound for him and Matt Dowling (Deleted Scenes), Jimmy Rhodes (Black Clouds), Kyle Durfey (Pianos Become The Teeth) and Kevin Hilliard (Caverns) as they cast a wide net in their new found dynamic range, as tracked by J Robbins and mixed by Paul Malinowski.

Burial Waves -Holy Ground

IG - @rigsofdad

Episode 111 - Katy Guillen Nov 01, 2021

When Katy Guillen was but a wee lass, her father would bring her around to play her brand of the blues on guitar at open mic jam sessions in KC and the midwest, stoking the fire in her, curating and aiding her evolution from prodigious wunderkind into her current state of songwriting machine and indie-blues stalwart. She prefers writing in collaboration with her amazing trio and sees the reward in a better song, but the seed of the song is Katy, her voice and her guitar. We talk about dark days in the covid, her life in KC, late nights eating with her father after the jams at greasy spoons, the marriage-like existence of a band, and why her new record written over the pandemic is her finest work yet.

Episode 110 - Tierney Tough Returns! Oct 25, 2021

Return-guest and songwriter Tierney Tough survived and in fact thrived during the Covid era by hunkering down and creating, starting with a series of covers with her angular pop band The Pauses on the Quarantunes EP, which led straight into the creation of her own solo EP, A Farce To Be Reckoned With. It's a personal high-water mark for this bassist and pianist as she reckons with her life in Florida, first as a native of Orlando and now Gainesville and it's impact on her life and times. We stare down thorny topics like Taco Bell, the risk vs reward of playing live shows now, especially in FL, and why J Robbins of Jawbox is the absolute perfect producer.

Episode 109 - Xavier Alexander Oct 18, 2021

To say Xavier Alexander is busy is to miss the point. He's a recovering musician and has reanimated himself as Roaster/Founder/CEO of METRIC COFFEE. He has created a brand of specialty coffees that puts people over profits. METRIC has no board, no investors, and they're blowing the bloody doors off the coffee market in Chicago and beyond. The years creating this brand were filled with endless workdays, side jobs, diligent saving, baby-making, getting jilted, learning from loss, coffee roasting, world traveling, with sustainability, labor fairness, and transparency in reporting as focus. Now his inner-artist is able to grow the brand with his own Source Code Magazine and Podcast and killer collabs with artists like Iron and Wine and Spotlights.

Episode 108 - Chuck Whittington Oct 11, 2021

Chuck Whittington of namelessnumberheadman makes music that is at once analog and digital, acoustic and electronic, whimsical and sad, seemingly mundane and matter-of-factly magical. Their new record Plot the Points is a high water mark for a band of old friends from KC via Oklahoma who've made music for the past 20 years that has kept them sane and garnered rave reviews from the indie cognoscenti along the way. It's a wide-ranging chat with a talented multi-instrumentalist, working man and rad dad who's making the best music of his life.

Episode 107 - Buzz Osborne Oct 04, 2021

Buzz Osborne has cultivated and nourished the kingdom over which he and his musical partner of almost 40 years, drummer Dale Crover currently reign with particular care taken to keep the masses of MELVINS fans sated. He and his wife Mackie are the architects of not only the traditional MELVINS releases but also the hand screen-printed, letter press and limited edition releases that are manna from heaven for their flock. We talk about their new release Five Legged Dog which features about 30 of their "hits" reimagined as all-acoustic numbers. We also talk about growing up, school, their uncanny sense of vocal harmonies, rotating bassists and his unending dark sense of humor and whimsy that has dictated and rewarded his career.

Episode 106 - Mike Sullivan Sep 20, 2021

When Mike Sullivan created Russian Circles with his hockey homie and drummer Dave Turnkrantz, it's evolution from larvae to butterfly was almost immediate; the writing was streamlined instantly and there was an innate and unconscious understanding of what the goal was here: to make themselves happy. They write to scratch the itch that can only be reached through therapy and rocking. We talk life, writing, searching, making, fighting, cooking, car accidents, family and all while they're in Chicago making a new record at Electrical Audio with Kurt Ballou.

Episode 105 - Heidi Phillips Sep 06, 2021

Heidi Phillips found the inspirado the reform her influential band Frogpond after almost 20 years ironically at the celebration of life of her drummer Billy Johnson at the Madrid Theater in 2017, and in the ensuing years has secured a lineup that make her new music even more relevant and powerful than she imagined, with a new LP Time Thief (Black Site) recorded by Shiner bassist Paul Malinowski that showcases the heft and dynamic of the band. Time Thief is a testament to the fact that Heidi and Frogpond broke ground for all-female bands and broke the mold for what they should sound like.

IG Frogpondkc

Episode 104 - Mike Lust (Double Plus Encore Special) Aug 30, 2021

Chicago musician slash wizard Mike Lust has just released his long awaited solo debut Demented Wings (Forge Again) and it's amazing. This episode is an encore redux of our talk on Sept 21st, 2020 plus a recent chat about his new record and even more revelations from his storied past as the brain and namesake of Chicago bands Luster King and Tight Phantomz and as engineer and producer for so many bands at his studio Phantom Manor before it's untimely demise a few years ago. Get reacquainted with this firebrand performer known for high kicks and shredding licks with his new record that reveals so much more of him than ever before.

IG @mikelust1

Episode 103 - Max Bernstein Aug 24, 2021

Guitarist Max Bernstein and I met in 2007 on tour somewhere in Iowa in a mostly empty room with his band The Actual, and he had no idea he would be working with the biggest names in the biz as their guitarist and sideman soon after. His audition that landed the Kesha gig soon after we met has parlayed this anomaly into a bona fide career with these pop giants. His life growing up was a atypical existence as the son of celebrated writer Nora Ephron and legendary journalist Carl Bernstein, but it gave him the knowledge and confidence that his aspirations weren't just pipe dreams, it was a thing that can really happen. It's his talent that's kept there.

IG: @maxephronbernstein Twitter: @max_e_bernstein

Episode 102 - Jeremy Sidener Aug 16, 2021

Before bassist Jeremy Sidener became the owner of the Eighth Street Taproom in Lawrence KS where he worked for 29 years, he was the rock-solid bottom end of legendary Lawrence band Zoom that was influential not just for bands like Shiner but was hailed as a bellwether of musical style after their 2nd full length Helium Octopede was released on Tim/Kerr records. These reverential pronouncements from press and other musicians weren't enough to keep the band together, so Jeremy took his talents to guitar in Panel Donor and then more recently in the excellent Major Games while quietly taking a larger stake in the culture of Lawrence by curating music he wants to bring in, battling pandemics, foreclosure and is now mercifully back open creating fuzzy memories for countless Lawrencians.

Episode 101 - Quin Kirchner Aug 09, 2021

Quin Kirchner has spent his life growing into where he's arrived currently, which is to say a world-class jazz drummer, composer and now bandleader with The Quin Kirchner Trio, but has been playing with top-flight players and leading groups large and small for the better part of 20 years like Head With Wings, K/V/L and later NOMO, a giant ensemble of largely improvised material which later begat Wild Belle. He's spent his life as side man to great players like Rob Mazurek, Jeb Bishop and Nick Mazzarella but hadn't come into his own until the QKT released The Other Side of Time in 2018 and now The Shadows and The Light and getting crazy reviews not only in Downbeat but also on indie mags Pitchfork, spreading the love naturally.

Episode 100 - Matt Talbott Aug 02, 2021

HUM guitarist / singer Matt Talbott is the celebrant for the live taping of the 100th episode of TGS at Fitzgeralds in Berwyn IL and it did not disappoint the sold out crowd who got to know about not only Matts work with HUM but about his bar/venue Loose Cobra, his studio Earth Analog, his solo career doing house shows across the US and how that has changed his life. We also get to hear from him about his drummer Bryan St Pere who had just passed less than a week prior. Matt is so funny and dry; an intellectual who's down to earth and so full of passion, pain and love for his music, his bandmates and his family. Not to be missed.

Episode 99 - Johnny Drugan Jul 26, 2021

Bassist / Owner of Drugan's Drums Johnny Drugan was raised just how you'd think the son of a professional musician would be raised; surrounded by rock stars like Johnny Winters whose band his dad played bass in, soaking up the rich environment of smokey studios, life-changing guitar solos, and with off-days spent at flea markets learning to haggle and deal, gleaning the true worth of something before becoming a ripping bassist with bands like Beneath Me in the early 2000s and then ultimately focusing his talents on Drugan's Drums and Guitars about 10 years ago, turning into one of the regions most well-known purveyors of finely restored drum kits.

Thomas Galassi Jun 28, 2021

BlueMan Captain and Filmmaker Thomas "Boomer" Galassi has mastered the art of living the life he wants to live. He found BlueManGroup after moving to New York and surviving the rounds of soul-sucking auditions designed to tear the actor down and working temp jobs and got introduced to Chris, Matt and Phil, the original three BlueMen who subsequently put him through six months of training before finally informing him he'd been hired into his dream job, but it wasn't until a certain psychedelic experience allowed him to find his character: himself. To boot, he and his brother Adam are filmmakers and have three feature length films under their belts and scores of appearances in film festivals across the globe.

Episode 97 - Eric Fundingsland Jun 21, 2021

Punkrocker turned documentary filmmaker Eric Fundingsland first full-length film "Why Am I Doing This?" A Film About Touring is a funny and insightful look into the often undignified world of touring in a rock band that can be sketchy even on the best of days. He talks with rockers like Steve Albini, Tim Midyett, Joe Preston and many more about why they do what they do, and when asked why they continue to tour some are actually not sure why. We talk about how he made the film and what it took to edit over 500 gigs of footage together and why he undertook the whole thing in the first place. His band The Bismarck tell hilarious horror stories that are so relatable and familiar you'd cry if you weren't laughing. Hail Hail rock and roll.

Episode 96 - Alianna Kalaba Jun 14, 2021

Before Alianna Kalaba began playing bass in FACS with Brian Case (Disappears/Ponys/Episode 2 of TGS) she had been and still is Chan Marshall aka Cat Power's drummer for most of a decade playing festivals, touring the world and living the life of a working musician that can only be dreamed of. Now as FACS releases Present Tense (Trouble in Mind) their 4th record in 4 years, she talks about her life and how she's created this amazing career a reality, from her early Chicago band We Regazzi, her roaring '20s, the stability of her relationship with her partner, exploring the reasoning behind her never-questioned decision to become a full-time troubadour, it's a revealing rap with a prodigious musician.

Episode 95 - oddCOUPLE May 31, 2021

Producer oddCOUPLE aka Zach Henderson had a revelation that his life is supposed to be about creating music and whatever has to happen will happen and has happened to make this a reality. His work with artists like Chance the Rapper, Jamila Woods and Joey Purp has helped to establish him as a producer to be reckoned with, pulling the best out of those artists to make their visions come to life. Now he's releasing his third album Reflections with features from Jamila Woods, theMIND and Kweku Collins and it's already making waves and is a powerful reminder of the creative talents of this man. Pitchfork and Spin and XXL mag already spilled the beans on oddCOUPLE. More proof: his hustle and ambition have led him into the role of Music Director for Oprah Winfrey's 2020 Vision Tour.

oddcouplemusic.com

allenepley.com

Episode 94 - Bobby Markos May 24, 2021

Cloakroom bassist Bobby Markos didn't realize his journalism degree from college would split him into his current state of existence as a touring musician half the time and as a racing speedway historian with volumes of knowledge accumulated through years spent with his dad Bob Markos they then turned into MarkosRacingMedia, a collaboration in which they've made 4 full-length documentaries about the race tracks of yesteryear. This wealth of info has led him into his current role as a consultant and buddying TV personality on a new NBC Peacock show called Lost Speedways starring Dale Earnhardt Jr and is now in it's second season, while his ground-breaking band patiently awaits their return in early '22 with a new record already in the can.

thirdgearscratch.com

John Agnello May 17, 2021

Producer / Engineer / Mixer John Agnello is now a legend after having learned from other legends first-hand like Jimmy Iovine and Shelly Yakus in his years at the RecordPlant as an assistant engineer before launching his own career with bands like The Outfield and The Hooters. That work opened the indie-rock world to John as the go-to guy for bands like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Kurt Vile, Jawbox, Chavez, Drive By Truckers among thousands. He's an aural chameleon and explains how he loves working with bands to help them find exactly what's missing, even when they didn't know it was.

Johnagnello.com

thirdgearscratch.com

allenepley.com

Episode 92 - Sarah Quintero May 10, 2021

Spotlights bassist Sarah Quintero delves deep and raps with Allen about, among other things, Liz Cheney, the ups and downs of being in a band with her husband Mario (turns out it's almost all ups), their time as a two-piece band traveling with backing drum tracks and how that helped them hone and shape their live show, the power of playing live, how silly and restrictive genre labels are for bands like theirs that successfully straddle several, why she doesn't care what anyone thinks about her career choices and we talk about when she realized she wasn't a part-time rocker who worked temp gigs; she had become a full-time musician and it was right.

spotlights.com

allenepley.com

thirdgearscratch.com

Episode 91 - Ian Hultquist May 03, 2021

Composer Ian Hultquist quit his band Passion Pit in 2014 when they were at the height of their success, from spots on SNL to headlining Madison Square Garden to pursue his original goal of scoring for film and TV, specifically leaning into documentaries like Ivory Towers, Go For The Gold and First Monday In May and features like My Blind Brother (Nick Kroll/Adam Scott) before his current TV series Dickenson for Apple TV +. We wander around through his time at Berklee in Boston right as Passion Pit was blowing up on MySpace (yep) and went straight to the top, to his current life as half of the composing team with his wife Sofia as they literally write at the piano together, while also even more literally holding their newborn daughter, born at the dawn of the pandemic.

IanHultquist.com

allenepley.com

thirdgearscratch.com

Episode 90 - Ken Andrews Apr 26, 2021

Ken Andrews gives us a lengthy peek at his life making music with his band Failure, making music as a solo artist vs band, producing and mixing as a living, working with household names like Jimmy Eat World, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and NIN, he details the writing process with Failure and how they use improvisation as a key tool and how to know what to throw away, which turns out to be most of it, we discuss being befuddled by our children's math homework and why it's David Lee Roth over Sammy Hagar any day.

kenandrews.com

allenepley.com

thirdgearscratch.com

Episode 89 - Craig Finn Apr 19, 2021

Craig Finn is busy. He's busy making and releasing new music with his band The Hold Steady now on No. 8(!) and also with his solo career with 4 LPs under his belt since 2012 and a new collection of odds and ends called All These Perfect Crosses. Now he's even busier in these almost post-pandemic days with a live album they recorded on the release day of Open Door Policy, THS's most recent and maybe finest release and this time they put it out themselves. Allen and Craig swap stories and find out just why he stays so busy, what happens when he hits a creative wall, why did the game of tennis catch him in high school, and what exactly would he do if he weren't making music.

craigfinn.com

allenepley.com

thirdgearscratch.com

Episode 88 - Bryan Basham Apr 12, 2021

Producer/director Bryan Basham has spent the last 25 years of his life creating content for giant corporations with his production company Adjacent LA, working with iconic directors Jon Landis and Rob Cohen and in short film form like The Death And Return Of Superman with Max Landis, making music videos with Kid Rock, Veruca Salt, Matchbox Twenty, working on the Mr Warmth Project with Don Rickles, rubbing shoulders and sharing sweat regularly with Joan Rivers, Robert DeNiro and Bob Newhart. Now he's on permanent sabbatical in Italy and more recently Albania, still making ground-breaking short films but also teaching English and reassessing his mission in this world and beyond, and rediscovering his love of film.

bryanbasham.com

allenepley.com

thirdgearscratch.com

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