Passion Pod

Aaron Hoffman, aka "SonReal", is a Canadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. He took the music world by storm in 2013 when the music video for his song Everywhere We Go went viral on YouTube. His name became known internationally almost over night and within weeks he was signing a deal with a major record label in Los Angeles. The music video currently sits at over 44 million views, but his success...

Matt Ramage aka "that cross eyed Packers guy" is a content creator based in the Green Bay area. Matt went viral on Vine years ago and has consistently made content ever since growing his audience to hundreds of thousands across all the social media platforms. A lifelong Packers fan, he found his niche with fellow Green Bay fans when he started a Packers meme page. As fans started noticing, so did...

Brooke Brighton is a tv meteorologist for Spectrum News Wisconsin & Kansas City. Brooke grew up in a suburb outside of Chicago with parents that both worked in tv media. Weather has been an interest of hers since staring up at the clouds as a child. She attended college at Ohio State University before finding internships at ABC 7 Chicago and NBC 4 Columbus. After she graduated she worked her w...

Jacob Paul Herring, more commonly known by his stage name BabyJake, is a music artist, writer, and producer based in Nashville, Tennessee. BabyJake's first big break came when his song Cigarettes on Patios released in the winter of 2019. Shortly after, he was signed to Republic Records was expected to be the next mainstream star. Just before he was supposed to go on his first major international t...

Dalton Hessel is a 2nd grade teacher, content creator, writer, podcaster, and "Up North" enthusiast based in the small town of Hayward, Wisconsin. Dalton grew up in Hayward before earning his teaching degree at UWEC. While he enjoyed his time in Eau Claire, he always knew he wanted to end up back in his hometown. Inspired by the popular sitcom Boy Meets World, Dalton wanted to become a real life M...

Khary is an independent music artist whose sound is a unique blend of alternative hip-hop and rock. After spending 5 years living and building his music career in Los Angeles he has recently moved back to his home state of Rhode Island. Khary and his good friend Abhi the Nomad recently released a 6 song EP together titled Icarus. Abhi announced his farewell tour and Khary took to the road with him...

Zane Statz is a multi talented artist based in Green Bay, WI. Most people have seen his work at, or around, the Packers stadium Lambeau Field. Many refer to him as the unofficial artist of the Green Bay Packers due to how much of his work so far has been dedicated to the Packers in one shape or another. His first big project was a one day mural job when he painted the Packers Fence, a 70 feet wide...

Dustin Nickerson is a stand up comedian, podcaster, and family man originally from Washington that now resides in San Diego, California. Dustin has steadily built a name for himself in the comedy world over the last handful of years and now travels the world performing nearly every weekend all year long. He was kind enough to let me record this episode with him in his hotel room during his recent...

Wayne Hoffman is one of the most successful mind readers and illusionists in the world and also a good friend and past guest of the Passion Pod (Episode 42). I first met Wayne when we recorded an interview in his home back in the winter of 2021. We immediately hit it off and still to this day his episode is one of my all time favorites. We since have kept in touch and remained friends. He recently...

Nur-D and DJ Hayes performed on Friday August 16th at Reverb Music Festival 2024 in Eau Claire, WI. Nur-D and DJ Hayes were the first performers to arrive at the venue and were kind enough to sit down backstage for this interview before they took the stage to get the whole weekend started. In this interview we discuss how they first met, the difference between a producer and beat maker, why having...

DJ Strizzo grew up and started his career in Tampa, Florida and is now touring the world with platinum selling artist Bubba Sparxxx. Strizzo spent a decade working in radio building his fanbase and catalogue of official remixes he produced. As he got booked to perform in bigger and bigger clubs, he also went on tour as a DJ for bigger and bigger artists around the country. In this interview we dis...

Bekah Worley is an illustration artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota best know for her bright and colorful folk art paintings. Bekah was a late bloomer in the art world, but over the last few years she has found her own voice and grown an audience to over 100,000 followers on Instagram. What started with printing on tote bags that she sold at markets has grown into her full time career. Bekah wa...

Jared Schutz aka Wisco Dive Bar Reviews is a dive bar enthusiast from Spring Valley, WI. It all started with a simple question. How many bars are there in Wisconsin? After a quick google search Jared found the answer to be in the thousands and so the journey began. He recorded his first review video in January of 2022 and since has amassed an audience of over 50,000 followers on Instagram, over 60...

Greg Lutzka is a professional skateboarder and entrepreneur from Milwaukee, WI. Greg's career has spanned decades and his list of accomplishments goes on and on. His new documentary titled "One Way Ticket" is now available on Amazon and gives a great summary of his career so far. Greg dropped out of high school and moved to California to chase his dreams of being a pro skateboarder. It didn't take...

Amber Pacific is a Seattle based pop punk band that has been performing together since the early 2000's and is currently working on their first album in 10 years. Matt Young (Lead Vocals) sat down with Chris Johnson on the Passion Pod after their performance on Saturday August 17th at Reverb Music Festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In this episode we discuss how their music has evolved over the ye...

Amber Pacific is a Seattle based pop punk band that has been performing together since the early 2000's and is currently working on their first album in 10 years. Will Nutter (Guitar) and Dango Cellan (Drums) sat down with Chris Johnson on the Passion Pod after their performance on Saturday August 17th at Reverb Music Festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In this episode we discuss how their music ha...

Ginuwine recently performed on Friday August 16th in Eau Claire, Wisconsin at Reverb Music Festival 2024. He was kind enough to sit down backstage with Chris Johnson on the Passion Pod for a short interview about his experience on stage, his personal music preferences, saying "yes" to things, his journey towards sobriety, and more.

Warren Anderson Mathis, or better known as Bubba Sparxxx recently performed on Saturday August 17th at Reverb Music Festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Bubba was kind enough to sit down backstage after his performance with Chris Johnson for this episode of the Passion Pod. In this episode we discuss new music, how he coulda been Eminem, his relationship with Timbaland, flying first class, spending...

John Vesely aka Secondhand Serenade and his good friend and supporting vocalist/guitarist Will Garrett performed on Saturday August 17th at Reverb Music Festival in Eau Claire, WI and were kind enough to sit down backstage after their performance with Passion Pod host Chris Johnson. In this interview we discuss technical difficulties on stage, how they became friends and bandmates, playing for mas...

Dan Marsala is the lead singer for Story of the Year, and was kind enough to record this interview backstage on the Passion Pod with Chris Johnson before their performance at Reverb Music Festival 2024. In this interview we discuss which songs are his favorite to perform, juggling parenting and touring, the resurgence of emo music, longevity in the music industry, which rockstars he still fans out...

Anberlin's own Christian McAlhaney (Guitar) and Deon Rexroat (Bass) sat down with Chris Johnson on the Passion Pod after their performance on Saturday, August 17th at Reverb Music Festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In this episode we discuss the band's hiatus, switching up their singer to Matty Mullins, creating new music during the pandemic, the current state of the music industry, advice for you...

Richie Murphy is the most followed D3 college football player in the country and he plays for the UW Stout Blue Devils and this is his very first podcast interview he has ever done. Richie went viral for the first time when he was only in 5th grade and has been steadily making content and building an audience ever since. He is about to start his final season as a college athlete, but he's already...

Kevin Bolger is an Olympic cross country skier for the United States. Kevin grew up skiing in Minocqua, WI where his family is originally from. However for the last decade he has spent the majority of his time living and competing in Norway and the rest of Scandinavia where the sport really thrives. Kevin started skiing in 3rd grade, but didn't start taking it seriously until he was in high school...

Beth Stelling is a stand up comedian and tv writer based in Los Angeles, CA. Beth grew up in Dayton, Ohio before attending college and pursuing comedy and theatre in Chicago. After spending 4 years establishing herself in Chicago she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of a career in comedy. Since then she has built an incredible career for herself as a touring stand up comedian numerous appe...

Kathy Wright is the Director of Reverb Music Festival in Eau Claire, WI. Kathy has worked in the music festival industry with Country Jam and others for decades and has endless stories to share. The owners of Country Jam bought a beautiful new property a few years ago and had the idea to create a whole new music festival to share the space in the summer and so Reverb Music Festival was born with 2...