Going Off Track

So much fun this week with Vinnie Caruana of The Movielife Life and I AM THE AVALANCHE . From the heaviness of writing about his close friend's passing to playing in a Seaweed cover band, it gets real and it gets surreal - like 100% the BEST ghost story we've had to date!

The ever dynamic frontman for The Academy Is..., William Beckett joins us from the land of John Hughes to talk about wrestling, still not meeting Chris Carrabba, and of course - our pending Dave Mathews dance party! He also counts Warped Tours and reveals his most Epic Fail on stage and nerd alert... we do a LOT of Game of Thrones but hey, we're both G.O.T.! The Academy Is... website

The HUGELY influential Dan Yemin of Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, Paint It Black and now, Bitter Branches, got real with us this week! Don't worry, you'll hear plenty of what helped put him where he is today but we also go off-track with plenty of psychology talk (his other specialty), New Jersey hip-hop... even a little Yiddish lesson. Listen to Bitter Branches' new music

The Flatliners drummer, Paul Ramirez joins us from Toronto to discuss Canadian bagels, lobster, the danger of horses and Soundgarden. There's also praise for Jersey Pizza, Taco Bell and ringey snare sounds. We also discuss why he's always the designated driver at border-crossings.

American professional wrestler, manager of The Hurt Syndicate, the one and only  Montel Vontavious Porter (aka Hassan Hamid Assad) joins us to talk about bad choices, good recoveries, meeting Zac Blair of Rise Against when Zac was still in his high school band, Japanese steak, Sasquatch, living in Hakeem Olajuwon's house... there is so much good stuff here, you've just got to listen. MVP's Linktre...

Augusta Koch of Gladie joins us this week to discuss growing up in the Poconos (snowboarder), moving to Colorado with a bunch of skater-boys (didn't work out), Action Park, Catholic school and how the best songs are always borderline corny. There's also rockabilly whippitters and having The Menzingers as your neighbors in Philly. Yeah, it's a good one.

Everybody loves Walter. We live in the same neighborhood so I see him all the time but he's hard to miss - the guy won't slow down... Quicksand, Gorilla Biscuits - all still vital, hell Rival Schools just played a run of shows this week in South America ! So why not revisit this vintage episode (almost 10 years old?!?) when Benny was still cutting his host-teeth? Enjoy.

Ever since we recorded this episode, back in 2018 with Justin Brannan, (founding member of NYHC band, Indecision), his political star has been on the rise. Now, he's on the brink of becoming NYC Comptroller where he would oversee the largest municipal budget in the country. Of course we're talking pizza and conspiracy theories in this episode but listen thru to the outro where we essentially endor...

Daniel Kohn , co-author of Tearing Down the Orange Curtain - How Punk Rock Brought Orange County to the World  joins us to talk about Social Distortion, No Doubt, Offspring and The Vandals. We also go off-track on subjects like sports and how to beat the gambling apps.

Murder by Death frontman, Adam Turla checks in with us while waiting for the vinyl pressing of their latest release. He's also about to embark on the bands' twilight tour! We touch on that but then of course we go off track... way. Murder by Death on the web

Writer and poet (and seriously, a bunch of cool other stuff), Hanif Abdurraqib has been on tour for the last year supporting his latest book, There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension. So yeah, Benny does get him to talk a lot of hoops but this man is an engaging genius on so many subjects and it's a wonderful talk. Hanif's website - go there now.

Here's a wild ride for 'ya! Two for the price of one - brothers Dave and Tim Hause join us for a nice long chat about... everything! On and off track we go, from TV shows to the funniest musicians and our very first, live BREAKING NEWS! It's deep, it's funny, it's very informative. Sing Us Home Festival website

Texas Is The Reason we've got Chris Daly on this week, their co-founder and dynamic drummer. He talks about getting his start, seeing NYHC bands "wearing these weird beads" leading him to dabble in the Krishnacore scene and eventually starting Texas... who are back! He also reveals how many lollipops he's consumed in his life. Check it.

Minus The Bear is back! So we sat down for a chat with their bassist extraordinaire, Cory Murchy. From just how good it feels being back with the band to water rights, hunting and high-desert fun, this one def goes off-track. Episode word of the week: Respect. Check out Cory's art on his website

This Will Destroy You and You, Infinite guitarist, Jeremy Galindo goes way off track with us this week. UFO's, ghosts, video games, basketball... Brad Pitt! But don't worry true fans, the whole middle of the pod gets into Jeremy's amazing musical journey, from first bands to latest projects - it's all here!

We got our skank on for this week's guest - Mike Sosinski, the singer of ska-punk band, Kill Lincoln and owner of Bad Times Records . We talk about his first show (Bosstones), first skank (Mustard Plug), first band... and we even touch on the famous cafe wars of central Jersey. Classic GOT episode.

We continue last week's conversation with the legendary Skid Row, bassist Rachel Bolan, getting into his songwriting inspiration, a really good ghost story, and Alice Cooper winning a staring contest with his cat.

From the legendary Skid Row , bassist Rachel Bolan sits down with Benny (in the flesh!) to talk about his music origins, from seeing KISS for the first time and taking up bass so he could be Gene Simmons, to jumping from the club straight into the arena, opening for Bon Jovi. It's a truly lovely, fun conversation that we know you're going to enjoy.

Musician, producer, author, college professor, keyboard/accordion player for The Hold Steady, World/Inferno Friendship Society, Against Me!, Guignol... Franz Nicolay has so much under his belt that it's almost impossible to go off track with him. But we do. From growing up in the sticks to health hacks like waiting until your German tour to get your teeth fixed, this one is all information that yo...

120 Minutes host, DJ, music lover and author, Matt Pinfield continues the conversation from last week. We hear about flying on U2's private plane, seeing Queen with Thin Lizzy and surviving a teenage brain aneurysm, against all odds. Matt's website

The walking, talking encyclopedia of music himself is with us this week - the always amazing Matt Pinfield. He knows everything about music and has seen almost every cool band but in true form we get off-track and in-Jersey in this fun, informative episode. From baby Moby to 911 in that non-stop, classic voice. Matt's website

Tour manager for The Gaslight Anthem, Taylor Brown joins us for another 'Road Dogs' episode. He discusses the blessed 'day off' on the road, East Coast vs West Coast wildfires, the joy of spreadsheets and that Prague show. You should also know that this Renaissance man designs and builds mid-century modern furniture.

The delightful Karina Rykman, bassist, songwriter, jam-specialist, joins us this week to talk about the spiritual essence of jam-rock, running around Manhattan with a guitar at 13, her love of music (and specifically, Slayer). She reveals the Rolls-Royce of elevators and invites Benny to her parents' for brunch. Karina's website

Josh Johnson is deservedly blowing up right now! As correspondent on Comedy Central’s, The Daily Show as well as his hilarious standup and podcast, so we thought it was a good time to revisit the chat we had with him a while back... Josh's website

This week with got to chat with delightful Canadian rocker, Stefan Babcock, lead singer of PUP, maybe our favorite band from up yonder? He talked about growing up punk in a family full of scientists, best Toronto bands, Rivers Cuomo's songwriting techniques and a lot about Stefan's own process and philosophies. It was a lot of fun.