Eat the Brick

After a brief hiatus for IBMA and some personal business, we're back!!! Joel and Randy discuss the Halloween 2026 weekend, local bands, upcoming projects and navigating the artistic space between doing social media content and making music. Eat the Brick is a Chattanooga based music and lifestyle podcast hosted by Randy Steele and Joel Forlines and listened to by only the very few! Come hang!

I had a fantastic discussion with Chattanooga by way of Bristol by way of Chattanooga musician Teni Rane!  She recently released her new album 'Never Turning Back' and the lion's share of this episode rotates around that album.  We discuss writing songs and the best practices she discovered while creating her sound over the years.  We talked about the album's release schedule, what it took to make...

I had a great talk with Adam Stone about Chattanooga Jazz Fest and about its second year coming up. Last year's event was wildly successful and the discussion hovers around what year 2 brings in both challenges and excitement. Adam goes through what that looks like and throughout this conversation you can really tell how much of himself he has truly poured into the fest & local Jazz scene. Fin...

This was a fun episode and one that happened just off the cuff when I had someone drop out last minute.  Jakey and I were talking about a completely unrelated project a few days earlier and he was fresh in my mind.  The great thing about Jakey in real life and in his artistic career is that it’s impossible to tell if he’s being serious or if he’s setting you up for something.  This entire podcast...

Episode 42 'Glossy Grass' w/ Cuatro Cinco. We talk Chattanooga hip hop, Cuatro’s move from performing with a DJ to bringing out the full Gloss Family Band, and how that opened up a whole different world of gigs and audiences. He talks about supporting other Chattanooga hip hop artists, building the Glossy brand, the idea behind Stay Glossy, and bringing a positive balance into a negative world. We...

Surrender to the Flow with Maggie O’Connor, Part 2. In the second half of our conversation with Maggie O’Connor, we talk about Chattanooga’s music scene, local venues like Cherry Street Tavern and The Edge, and her work bringing people together through Third Place Productions. Maggie also takes us deep into her love of Phish — how she became a fan, what it’s like trying to bring your friends into...

Episode 40: Surrender to the Flow with Maggie O’Connor – Part One Maggie O’Connor joins Randy for a conversation that ended up being too good and too long for one episode. In Part One, Maggie talks about moving from Atlanta to Chattanooga and eventually bringing the Porchfest concept with her. What began with Highland Park Porchfest grew through Third Place Productions into events including Souths...

Mark Chester joins us for Episode 39, “Sixty-Eight.” Mark came up in the Atlanta music world and knew and played with both Col. Bruce Hampton and percussionist Count M’Butu. Mark brings us some great stories from those years — playing with the Col., the mythology and madness that always seemed to follow Bruce Hampton around, and memories of M’Butu and the Atlanta music scene they were all part of....

Eat the Brick – Episode 38: The Sand Bar with Mike Dougher Mike Dougher has been booking live music in Chattanooga for more than four decades, and on this episode we get into a whole lot of that history. We start with the early days at The Sand Bar and work our way through years of Chattanooga live music, including Mike’s time booking Rhythm & Brews and his work with Riverfront Nights. Along t...

Joel is back from Alaska for the weekend, so we figured it was a good time to sit down, catch up and find out what he’s been up to. In Episode 37, South Point Higgins Beach, Joel talks about playing music in Alaska and what it’s like working as a musician in a place where so much of the economy revolves around tourism. We get into the good parts, the difficult parts, the shows he’s been playing an...

Bella Lam joins us for Episode 36 of Eat the Brick 'Clean Start' to talk about the path from local open mics to becoming one of the Southeast's fastest-rising country artists. We discuss how TikTok helped grow her audience, the transition from pop influences into country music, writing songs that feel more like journal entries than performances, and what it's like sharing the stage and the music b...

This week we're joined by Chattanooga concert photographer Ryan Wildenberg of WildeSide Media, whose work has recently taken him from local venues to photographing artists like Primus, Les Claypool, Kendall Street Company, Little Feat, Eggy, and more. Ryan shares what really happens behind the camera at a live show—from band shot lists and shooting hundreds of photos every set to the importance of...

Dan Pinson is back for Episode 34, and this time we break down the evolution of his live rig—from a basic looping setup into the performance system he uses today. We talk about the gear, the lessons learned, and how his setup has changed over the years. Naturally, we also wander into a conversation about Star Wars and a handful of other rabbit trails before finding our way back. It's another laid-...

Episode 33 of Eat the Brick is out now: "Gas Station Coffee." We recorded this one before Joel headed to Alaska, knowing we'd need a few episodes in the bank while he was gone. This week's conversation is mostly about life as a road musician—the routines, the miles, the realities, and everything that comes with trying to make music for a living. We also wander into some important topics like Joel'...

Episode 32 — Pieced Together | with Courtney Holder This week we're joined by Chattanooga singer-songwriter Courtney Holder for one of our favorite conversations yet. Courtney talks about what it's been like to spend more than a decade making music—starting as a young artist with a lot of attention, growing into adulthood, starting a family, and learning how to keep creating while life keeps chang...

Episode 31 – Can't Compete with the Coif This week Randy sits down with Lake Foster, venue manager and talent buyer for Barrelhouse Ballroom, for a behind-the-scenes look at how one of Chattanooga's busiest music venues puts together its calendar. We talk about what catches his attention when booking bands, how he discovers new artists, why the venue has expanded into more hardcore and country sho...

This was pre-recorded when the fellas knew they would be away.  We may say we're back but currently Joel is back in Alaska and Randy is somewhere in midwest America coming home from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival But for this ep, Joel had just gotten back from Alaska. Randy had just gotten back from an East Coast run with Nick Lutsko and the 100k Band. We sat down to talk about touring and mostl...

Episode 29: 8 Gigs a Week with Dan Pinson How many shows should a musician be playing? This week, Randy Steele sits down with Chattanooga musician Dan Pinson to talk about finding the right balance between performing, creating, and promoting. The conversation explores the realities of booking gigs, staying active on social media, overcoming the fear of self-promotion, and keeping momentum going as...

Eat the Brick Podcast Episode 28: Arsonists on Ice with Spencer Blake This week, Randy Steele sits down one-on-one with musician, educator, and mentor Spencer Blake for a conversation about learning music, starting bands, and helping the next generation of musicians find their footing. Spencer shares stories from his first bands, what it was like learning music as a young player, and how those exp...

Episode 27 of the Eat the Brick podcast is here: Shawkra Pt 2 with Jakey Lutsko. This episode turned into something we honestly weren’t planning to release. This was supposed to be the 2nd part of Joel’s goodbye as he left for Alaska. We talked about what was happening and what Joel has coming up over the next few months. I really thought that what this episode would be but after the response to t...

Episode 26 of Eat the Brick Podcast — “Shawkra” (Part 1)   Joel and Randy explore the connections between music, rivers, creativity, and culture in this wide-ranging conversation centered around Joel’s ambient music project inspired by the chakras of the body.   The episode dives deep into the influence of the Ocoee River on Chattanooga and the Southeast — from rafting and kayaking culture to the...

On episode 25 of Joel and Randy Eat the Brick, we sit down with special guest Austin Otis, mayor of Ketchikan, Alaska, to talk about small towns, local politics, music scenes, and what life is really like in southeast Alaska as Joel gets ready to spend a few months living there. We get into Chattanooga culture, Tennessee music communities, road stories, local food, bluegrass and Americana scenes,...

Episode 24 of Joel & Randy Eat the Brick features Mike Monen from Barrelhouse Ballroom. Mike joins the show to talk about the vision behind Barrelhouse Ballroom, what it’s really like opening and running a live music venue, and the challenges that come with trying to build something meaningful for Chattanooga’s music community. Along the way, we get into pizza, jam bands, bluegrass, touring cu...

East Coast Tour Stories (Part 2) | Eat the Brick Podcast w/ Nick Lutsko In this episode of the Eat the Brick Podcast, Randy sits down with songwriter, philosopher, and touring artist Nick Lutsko to break down his recent East Coast tour. Nick is now a multiple award-winning commercial songwriter with a growing reputation as a unique voice in independent music and comedy. After wrapping a run of sho...

East Coast Tour Stories (Part 1) | Eat the Brick Podcast w/ Nick Lutsko   Description: In this episode of the Eat the Brick Podcast, Randy sits down with songwriter and touring artist Nick Lutsko to break down his recent East Coast tour.   Nick is now a multiple award-winning commercial songwriter with a growing reputation as a unique voice in independent music and comedy. After wrapping a run of...