Tag: songwriting

Ep 112 Renaissance Gem

Gem Fair does literally everything, from writing about music for Pitchfork, to making music as Space Buns Forever, drumming for Big Baby, Playing second bass for Larval State, and being the front man for Positive Thinking. Gem does it all, including some stuff we forgot, like being a ring announcer for Enjoy Wrestling. And like everyone one this podcast who practices in more than one medium, we go deep on what parts of the human brain get exorcise with each medium, as well as what it means to make art before the apocalypse. Finally, be sure to check out Gem’s podcast A Dog With a Mullet.

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Ep 98: Chris Q Murphy has a Livestream Now

We intended to discuss Season 1 of Chris Q Murphy’s livestream where he performs his songs and discusses songwriting craft with guests. However, CQM is the person I have been close friends with the longest, and well . . . things got off track. Join us for our intimate conversation about music, young people, and creativity.

Do check out past episodes of the Chris Q. Murphy Tuesday night livestream on his YouTube channel. Listen to CQM through his Bandcamp Page.

Most importantly, recognize that two guys from Jersey cannot not swear.

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Ep. 95: I was a Weak Man. Now I’m a Bad Ghost

EW Harris is a musician who fuses sci-fi and folk, playing on upcycled instruments and cell phones. His new single “Bad Ghost” explores the ways in which our insecurities and regrets might just follow us into the afterlife. During the course of our conversation, we talk about how being born in the Rust Belt might just prepare you for the apocalypse. We talk songwriting and rush to cut the conversation short before I lose power again.

Check out the EW Harris Official Website. Listen to “Bad Ghost” on Bandcamp. Follow EW Harris on Facebook. Give him work on LinkedIn, or better yet let him write you a jingle. Subscribe to EW’s Patreon. And if you aren’t convinced, check out some thoughtful blog posts on “Bad Ghost” here and here.

Finally, there is swearing, and also a strange echo effect on EW’s mic until about 15 minutes into the podcast. I tried to use software magic to clean it up the best I could, but if it’s too annoying, skip to 16 minutes in. It will be worth it. This was one of my favorite conversations.

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Episode 32: There’s a Man Named Brook Pridemore.

In this episode Brook Pridemore and Derek Zanetti stop by to talk to us about what it means to draw from personal experiences when making art.  In the process, we talk about the complexities of putting one’s personal life on display, the tyranny of perfection that a lot of Americans live under, and Brook has one hell of a story about meeting Bill O’Reilly.

Brook Pridemore’s website is a great place to find out all about him. You can also buy his amazing record Brook Pridemore’s Gory Details on the Brook Pridemore Bandcamp page.  The Brook Pridemore YouTube channel will soon feature a video for every song on his latest album. He is also worth following on Twitter and Facebook.

Derek will be back soon, and until then you should keep up with The Homeless Gospel Choir on Facebook and through A-F Records.

As always, we swear.

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Episode 19: Seriously, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

For this podcast we are lucky to have Endless Mike of Endless Mike and the Beagle Club; The One and Only Matt Miller (who is also in The Beagle Club); and Derek Zanetti of The Homeless Gospel Choir to discuss what it means to share one’s personal life through songwriting.   We also discuss Jimmy Stewart’s hometown, a place where emotions are seemingly not allowed, and Derek provides us with perhaps the greatest moment in the history of the podcast.

Endless Mike has a great song called “Out of Respect”  that we talk about throughout the podcast. You can find out more about Endless Mike and the Beagle Club here, and you can see Matt Miller’s newest movie “Hang With Me” here.  Derek is an old vet of the podcast.  He was here previously to talk about his band The Homeless Gospel Choir in Episode 11, and he was here to promote his book Existentialism: The Musical in Episode 15.

As always, there is swearing.

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Episode 17: I Know It’s Only Rock and Roll, but the Italians Like It.

The second time I saw Bill Toms perform I said that I though every bar in the country should have a Bill Toms clone or bot that can be pulled out whenever folks need to have gospel infused blues rock good time.   Bill has been performing music for 35 years and is a true master of his craft.  Anyone who has seen one of his joyous live shows can understand why I was super happy to spend part of a Saturday morning discussing songwriting, how an album is a document of a time and a place, why Europeans love American music, his awesome new album Memphis, and when those Bill Toms-bots will eventually rise up and take over the world they will only ask for dark chocolate.

You can find out all about Bill Toms at his website, buy all his merchandise here, and if you never saw a Bill Toms show, see what you are missing with this clip.

As always, there’s a little light swearing.

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Episode 9: Improv(e)

Spiff Wiegand is back to talk about improvisation and the role it plays in the creative process.   For the past two weeks, he has improvised a new song every day.   The exercise has taught him a lot about the creative process and how one should think about doing art.  We talked about the importance of play and of not taking oneself too seriously.  Also, I get all professorial and start citing my sources, and Spiff improvised and recorded a brand new song.

You can keep track of his improvized songs at  https://soundcloud.com/spifftunes.  And here you can heard the song he recorded during the podcast called “Spent My Morning Talking to a Yeti“.

Spiff is a musician and actor his old website is spiffwiegand.com and his new website will soon be spifftunes.com.  It’s not yet ready, but go ahead, keep clicking on it.  I dare you!

As always, there’s a little mild swearing.

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Episode 6: I Wouldn’t Trust Anyone in Oasis to Water My Plants if I Was out of Town.

Join me as I talk to Adam Rousseau of Triggers and Chrome Baby Jesus about what it’s like to be in a band, write songs, and perform to a room full of strangers.  In the process, we also talk about when mommy chords and daddy chords love each other very much, why it’s better to be burned to death than buried alive, and just what happens to the bodies of people who fall out of airplanes.

You can find out more about the two excellent bands Adam is in at triggersmusic.com and chromebabyjesus.bandcamp.com

Adam’s used to being on the real radio so he was hesitant to swear, but I made sure I set the tone for another fine NSFW podcast.

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