The Creative Asylum Podcast

This is the first time we've had a comic in the Creative Asylum, and I'm still delighted with who it's with! In this episode I got to have a conversation with the unstoppable Margaret Cho — comedian, actor, writer, musician, activist, LGBTQIA+ icon, feminist firestarter, and one of the few people in American comedy who has never once mistaken “polite” as necessary tool for acceptance in a world fu...

This episode is a special one for me, as it's with Gary Taxali a huge personal favorite artist of mine, somebody I've been following since the '90s. Gary is a Toronto-based artist, illustrator, and visual satirist whose unmistakable retro-pop style has made him one of the most celebrated illustrators working today.  He's done work with The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, GQ, TIME, Newsweek, and Th...

In this episode, I spend some time with an old friend and one of my favorite conversationalists, the legendary (and always funny) Pacific Northwest producer and musician Steve Fisk. In a behind-the-scenes candid chat with one of the architects of some of the region’s most adventurous and influential music, we discuss his working with Nirvana, Soundgarden, Beat Happening, Unwound, Screaming Trees a...

This episode is a special treat with an old friend: A conversation with Chad Channing, the drummer who helped usher Nirvana into the world with their debut record, Bleach. We dive deep into his pivotal role on the band’s bands beginnings, and the creative spark that defined those early Sub Pop years. Channing reflects on his time in those sseminal of the Seattle scene, and what it meant to be part...

In this episode, a super-fun conversation with the San Francisco–based “Heavy Metal Quilter,” Ben Venom, an artist who stitches together the worlds of metal, punk, skate culture and fine art quite literally. A long-standing fixture in the Bay Area’s punk rock art scene, Venom repurposes band tees and battle jackets into intricate, hand-sewn quilts that blur the line between craft and cultural arti...

In this episode, we’re joined by Latina feminist punk pioneer Alice Bag for a fierce, fun and deeply insightful conversation about music, identity, and resistance through art. A breakout presence in Penelope Spheeris' debut film, The Decline of Western Civilization, Alice was one of the earliest artists that defined the confrontational energy of early L.A. punk with her band The Bags. We dig into...

In this episode, I sit down with an old friend, rock journalist and author Adem Tepedelen to dig into his latest and most anticipated project: Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond, which is the authorized autobiography of Kim Thayil of Soundgarden which Adem worked on with Kim over the period of three years. Adem discusses how the project came to fruition - writinga bo...

Prepare to go deep with Michael Hill — the incendiary guitarist, singer, and founder of Tombs , a band that has relentlessly pushed the boundaries of metal, hardcore, and intense and experimental heaviness for close to two decades. In this conversation we trace Michael’s musical evolution from the early days of forging his current sound in the present moment, where his creativity continues to thri...

In this episode we sit down with the immensely creative co-founder of The Posies , Ken Stringfellow . A songwriter and guitarist whose harmonies and songs have been a critical element to some of the best power pop to ever come from the Pacific Northwest, Ken and Posies co-founder Jon Auer, were part of the resurrection of Big Star, a band that was hugely influential on both of them. Beyond Bi...

This week we sit down with Hiro Yamamoto — co-founder and original bass player of Soundgarden, one of the most important bands from the Seattle Music explosion that changed the course of rock forever. Hiro’s musical journey is rich and expansive. From the thunder of early grunge to the expansive psych-rock of TRULY, and his instrumental surf-punk band, the Bellingham-based Stereo Donkey, he's now...

In this episode, a deep and wide-ranging conversation with V ictor Krummenacher — songwriter, bassist, and creative heart behind Camper Van Beethoven , co-founder of Monks of Doom , and a singular voice in alternative music with a remarkable catalog of solo records to his credit.  Victor’s musical journey has always been adventurous, exploratory and deeply human and with that, we talk about T...

Few cartoonists have captured the anxious, abrasive, and darkly hilarious spirit of American life quite like Peter Bagge . Best known as the creator of HATE , the iconic Fantagraphics series that defined a generation of alt-comics readers, Bagge’s work blends elastic cartooning, savage satire, and razor-sharp social observation. Mentored early on by R obert Crumb during his time editing Weirdo, Ba...

Kira Roessler is a rare artist whose creative impact started in the 1980s as the bassist for Black Flag during one of the band’s most explosive and influential eras. She later co-founded dos with her then-spouse, Mike Watt, writing deeply personal, minimalist music that pushed punk’s emotional and structural boundaries to new areas of exploration. Beyond the world of SoCal punk, Kira has managed a...

This is a fun one - a conversation with Jeff “JD” Pinkus, best known for his work with the legendary Butthole Surfers as well as his stint as the bass player with Melvins. Jeff's approach to music is unique - he has his own sense of warped psychedelia, a genuine reflection of his sometimes wildman mind. In this episode, we begin to understand his fearless spirit and boundary-pushing ethos, qualiti...

Joe Lally is one of those bassists whose playing has largely defined ideas of what punk and post-punk can be. Best known as a founding member of Fugazi , Lally’s deeply, sometimes dub-inflected feel and tight rhythm-forward approach have influenced an entire generation as a critical component of Fugazi’s fiercely independent and uncompromising approach to being in a band. In more recent years, he’...

For this kick-off to the second season of The Creative Asylum, I have a conversation that was an honor and a delight. From growing up inside one of the most unconventional, creative, and publicly scrutinized families in American pop-culture, Moon Zappa has lived a life defined by both extraordinary visibility and deeply personal exploration. In her memoir, Earth to Moon , she offers a vivid, emoti...

In this episode—the final episode of the first season—a conversation with a very old friend, the endlessly creative Roderick Wolgamott — founder and front-facing soul of the Seattle-based psychedelic dream-pop collective Sky Cries Mary. Outside of music, he’s also a visionary designer behind dozens of hand-built treehouses in locations all over the world. Roderick takes us on a journey through his...

Just in time for Christmas, in this episode, I sit down with legendary DIY filmmaker David Markey for a broad-ranging conversation about his life behind the camera. Markey, known for his raw, uncompromising and irreverent approach to documenting underground culture, opens up about the creative journey that led to his upcoming film 'The Secret Lives of Bill Bartell,' a project that I think is perha...

Sluggo Cawley has been in bands most of his life. From Hullaballoo and Aint to The Grannies and REQ'D, Sluggo has spent over four decades creating guitar-based mayhem.  A longtime friend, we have an in-depth conversation that digs into the stories behind the music: the chaos, the creativity, the hard-won wisdom and the pure joy of staying creative and making noise. With an art degree in hand...

In this episode, a conversation with Bootsy Holler — the lens-and-light maestro who captured the raw energy, the DIY grit, and the creative perseverance of Seattle's indie, rock and punk music. With her new book MAKiNG iT: An Intimate Documentary of the Seattle Indie, Rock & Punk Scene, 1992‑2008 , Bootsy talks about her journey — from a young photographer showing up at clubs with a camera and...

From her early days as a founding member of the Riot Grrrl band, Bratmobile to an impressive career as a music executive, Molly Neuman has lived a life steeped in creativity, community, and change. As a musician at the forefront of a burgeoning musical subculture, she helped shape a movement that gave voice to a new generation of feminist artists; as President of CD Baby, she continues to champion...

In this episode, an in-depth conversation with acclaimed documentary filmmaker Doug Pray, whose work over the past three decades has captured the raw spirit of several American subcultures. Doug’s films — including Hype! , Scratch , Surfwise , Art & Copy , Levitated Mass , and Love, Lizzo — have explored everything from the explosion of Seattle’s grunge scene to the pioneers of hip-hop DJ cult...

Conan Neutron is a singular force in the world of indie music — a songwriter, performer, and overachiever whose creative restlessness has fueled his Protonic Reversal podcast which has been running strong for an impressive 11 years! We talk about his current band, Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends as well as his previous groups, Replicator and Victory and Associates . In this energetic conver...

In this episode, I sit down with an old friend, Nabil Ayers — music executive, host of The Identified podcast and author of an acclaimed memoir ' My Life in the Sunshine ,' which explores his experiences growing up as the son of legendary jazz musician Roy Ayers, a father that he never knew as a kid. The book AND the podcast explore questions of identity, race, and what constitutes family in envir...

In this episode, a rare and unfiltered conversation with Laurie Lipton, the Los Angeles–based artist whose painstaking black-and-white pencil drawings have captivated collectors, critics, and art lovers around the world. Over decades, she’s built a reputation for works that blend obsessive detail, a wicked gravitas and dark wit — forceful visual meditations on mortality, consumerism, politics, and...