Behind the Setlist

Jasen Rauch of Breaking Benjamin joined Billboard's Behind the Setlist podcast for a wide-ranging interview about the band's touring life, its loyal fan base, picking songs for Breaking Benjamin concerts, the challenge of developing new rock acts in 2025, and the band's transition away from Hollywood Records. The group's latest song, "Awake," was licensed by the band through BMG, and Rauch says th...

Fresh off a Grammy win for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album for The Heart, The Mind, The Soul, Tarriona "Tank" Ball of the New Orleans group Tank and the Bangas joined Billboard's Behind the Setlist to talk about that Grammy win, the stories behind some of the album's songs, her excitement for performing at the upcoming New Orleans Jazz Festival and how her music got its mix of soul, R&B, hip hop and...

Nick Wheeler of The All-American Rejects talks to Behind the Setlist about hitting it big in the '00s, the slowdown in the '10s and the band's return to meaningful touring in the '20s (and their performance at the 2022 When We Were Young festival that got the ball rolling). The band recently released a cover of the 1997 Harvey Danger song "Flagpole Sitta" through independent Spin Records and, Whee...

Rick Springfield joins Behind the Setlist to talk about his new greatest hits album out February 14, Big Hits: Rick Springfield’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 2, which features the new track "Lose Myself" and an assortment of songs ranging from his 1999 album Karma to 2023's Automatic. The deluxe box set version of the album comes with a hardcover coffee table book. Rick talks about writing "The Man That N...

In this episode we talk with Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter, otherwise known as Phantogram. Phantogram released its 5th studio album, the fantastic Memory of a Day, in October 2024 and recently wrapped up a tour as the opener for Kings of Leon. Memory of a Day is a kaleidoscope of sounds, textures and moods, all rooted in excellent songwriting and Sarah and Josh’s ability to embed memorable hooks i...

John Cooper, frontman for the rock band Skillet, joins Behind the Setlist for a wide-ranging talk about the band's latest album, Revolution, performing in countries many Western bands don't visit, the power of music to connect to other people, and music business lessons he has learned over the decades. Revolution is Skillet's 12th studio album and first to be self-released after leaving Atlantic R...

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith of Tears for Fears join Behind the Setlist to talk about their new live album, Songs For A Nervous Planet; concert film, Tears for Fears Live (A Tipping Point Film); and how they continue to strive to write and record great music (such as the four new tracks on the live album). Links: Tears for Fears home page Tears for Fears tour dates Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic Glenn...

Gene Simmons is no longer the fire-breathing, platform shoes-wearing bass player for KISS. After the band's final performance in December 2023, Gene has been leading the Gene Simmons band through European festivals and American theaters and venues far smaller than a typical KISS venue. Still, as Gene explained, touring with a four-piece band and a skeleton crew can be financially lucrative. Gene t...

Behind the Setlist was thrilled to talk to Rachael Price and Mike Calabrese from Lake Street Dive. In November, the Brooklyn-based band received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal album for their 8th studio album, Good Together. Rachel and Mike talked about their surprise Grammy nod, the origin of the album's title track, what it’s like playing on stage after being together for two...

Gin Blossoms have been going for nearly four decades and continue to bring their '90s hits "Hey Jealousy" and "Til I Hear It From You" to venues around the U.S. What's the secret? Everybody gets an equal vote. Patience is key. Sacrifice is necessary. Punctuality is important, too, says singer Robin Wilson. "You don't make your bandmates wait for you. You want to keep a band together? Get to the ai...

The original Sixpence None the Richer lineup came together for the first time in over two decades to release a new EP, Rosemary Hill, and put on the band's first tour in over ten years. Leigh Nash and Matt Slocum joined Billboard's Behind the Setlist to talk about getting the band back together, recording Rosemary Hill, the ending popularity of the band's hit song "Kiss Me," the interpolation of "...

Colin Hay is a natural storyteller. That side of him didn't come out during his brief tenure in the chart-topping Australian band Men at Work ("Who Can It Be Now?," "Down Under," "Overkill"). But after releasing two solo albums and getting dropped by his label, Hay reinvented himself as a solo artist who commands the stage with a mere guitar and his gift for an amusing anecdote. More than thirty y...

Daryl Hall is best known for the duo Hall & Oates. Lately, he's made a name for himself with his long-running video series, Live From Daryl's House, where Hall and his house band perform with guest musicians (most recently Howard Jones, Robert Fripp, Lisa Loeb, Andy Grammer and Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke). Hall joins Behind the Setlist to talk about his latest album, D, which was produced b...

Paul Stanley of KISS joined Billboard's Behind the Setlist podcast to talk about a wide range of topics. Why the band sold its music royalties and name & likeness to Swedish company Pophouse. How the KISS legacy will live in the coming years. His love of soul music and his band, Paul Stanley's Soul Station. His feelings about KISS's final tour. His painting career. And his work with About Face, a...

Violinist Lindsey Stirling made a name for herself in 2010 by reaching the quarter finals of America's Got Talent with a unique mixture of classical music, pop sensibilities and dancing. Within a few years, she was on a path to gold and platinum albums, world tours and an unexpected success in holiday music. Her latest album, Duality, sees Stirling pushing her sound further into rock and EDM. Bill...

Brandon Boyd and Mike Einziger of the rock band Incubus are currently on the band's Morning View + The Hits tour, a 10-city arena tour during which they'll play their 2001 album Morning View in its entirety — plus some more songs ("the hits"). And as many other bands have done lately, Incubus released a re-recorded version of the album, Morning View XXXIII, which features such beloved songs as "Wi...

Perry Farrell is one of a kind. He co-founded Jane's Addiction and left a lasting mark on rock music with the original band members' initial run of three albums: Jane's Addiction (1987), Nothing's Shocking (1988) and Ritual de lo Habitual (1990), the latter getting a boost into the mainstream from the song "Been Caught Stealing." Farrell also co-founded the traveling music festival Lollapalooza fo...

Melissa Etheridge had wanted to perform at a prison for decades. In fact, she grew up within a stone's throw of a penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, where Johnny Cash performed in 1970. "Prisons must be a place of great entertainment," she thought to herself, "and someday I'm gonna grow up and play a prison." Decades later, after a string of platinum albums and multiple Grammy Awards, Etheridge...

Mat Kearney's self-titled, 8th studio album (released May 15 through Middle Kid Records) adds a dash of the early '80s to his highly crafted songwriting. Mat was enamored by the band The Brook & The Bluff, he tells Billboard's Behind the Setlist podcast, and had them back him in the studio to capture the exact sound he wanted (he also went for the sound of one of his favorite albums, Paul Simon's...

Pat Monahan co-founded the rock band Train and gave his soaring voice to such hits songs as "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)," "Meet Virginia," "Calling All Angels" and "Hey Soul Sister." Pat joins Billboard's Behind the Setlist to talk about building a setlist for the band's current tour with REO Speedwagon, his wine businesses (Save Me, San Francisco Wine Co.), his talented bandmates, how he takes ca...

Adam Lazzara is the frontman for Taking Back Sunday, whose single "S'old" from the album 152 spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart in late 2023 and early 2024. Taking Back Sunday broke out of Long Island, New York to put four albums inside the top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart: Where You Want to Be, Louder Now, New Again and Happiness Is. 152 is the band's 8th studio albu...

Rising country star Chayce Beckham wrote and performed the song “23,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in April. He also performed the song on season 19 of "American Idol" and joined such luminaries as Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson and Scotty McCreery by winning the talent competition. To support his album Bad For Me (released in April 2024 through Wheelhouse Records),...

Birdy (Jasmine van den Bogaerde) broke into the mainstream in 2011 when, at the age of 14, she released a cover of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love," a song that remains a staple in her live performances. "Skinny Love" was a hit in the U.K. and Australia and helped her debut, self-titled album top album charts in Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium. Birdy's latest album, Portraits, is a blast of '80s or...

K.Flay (Kristine Flaherty) released her latest album, MONO, on Sept. 15, 2023 on Giant Music. Known for songs like "High Enough" and "Blood in the Cut," K.Flay says she recorded MONO like it was a debut album. "I just didn't have a ton of judgment," she says. "In a good way. I wasn't self censoring, or self judging, going, 'Man, that's a stupid idea.'" The result is "a no-holds-barred futuristic r...

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney join Billboard's Behind the Setlist podcast (Glenn Peoples from Billboard and Jay Gilbert from Label Logic) to talk about the upcoming album, Ohio Players, out April 5. The debut single, "Beautiful People (Stay High)" and other tracks were inspired by the rock, R&B and funk 7" singles they played during their Black Keys Record Hang gigs at clubs around the U.S., Eur...