Between Awesome and Disaster with Will Carey

Comedian Lace Larrabee and Will met in NYC 10 years ago, and this year she recorded her debut comedy album.  She talks to Will about how Competing in beauty pageants prepared her for stand up comedy, the Atlanta comedy scene and being a comic based outside of NYC or LA, comedy festivals, road gigs, recording her first album, and how southerns will tell other southerns to go back up north sometimes...

Lords of the Trident vocalist Ty Christian's Operatic voice and business knowledge has taken his band all over the world.  He talks to Will about his new course DIY Band on SpectreDigital.com, his early love of vocalists and singing, discovering metal in college thank to his roommate and now Lords of The Trident bandmate, Power Metal, working as a roadie for Steppenwolf How to use color and brandi...

Dreadnoughts Lead Singer Nicholas "The Fang" Smyth's background in philosophy is interwoven into the gloriously fun Folk Punk.  He talks to Will about the first single Cider Holiday from the bands' upcoming album Roll and Go to be released June 24th 2022.  The sub genre of Cider Punk, UK Cider culture, balancing careers with intense DIY Touring, Philosphy, Nietzsche's connection to punk rock, Tour...

What Makes Sense frontman Radam Rebillard  Thrashes with his band and makes Whisky.  He talks to Will about making Whisky, selling real estate in upstate New York during the pandemic, discovering Pop Punk, being the frontman of a band and what that entails, songwriting, the formation of What Makes Sense, and the plans for more music in the future.   Listen to What Makes Sense: https://open.spotify...

Pete Bladel has been a comedian in New York City for a decade.  He talks to Will about his just released comedy album Literary, his thought process behind recording a comedy album, starting comedy in Washington DC, his love of Jerry Seinfeld and the documentary Comedian, joke writing, Outrage as a marketing tactic, and the relationship between artists and their art and an audience's relationship w...

Comedian Josh Alba.  He talks to Will about his love of professional wrestling, growing up in Brooklyn, the paths that different friends took from his High School, starting stand up comedy, producing shows,  and his comedy goals for this year. Josh's show in Brooklyn: https://www.instagram.com/gildedcomedy/ Josh's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/joshalba   Will's Website:  www.awesomedisaster.com Podc...

Early 2000s pop punk is in the musical DNA of Wasting Time's Vlad Bojco. He talks to Will about the creation of the bands new album Once More Without Feeling on Paper + Plastick , combining different guitar tones in the studio,  Moving to Canada as a kid, Canada's pop punk heros, the Canadian Pop punk scene, seminal live concert moments, favorite food spots in Toronto, and the bands upcoming live...

How I Became Invisible's new album Another Ceiling is result of several eps and writing songs about a tumultuous time in Emily Reed's life.  She talks to Will about the writing and composing the songs that would become Another Ceiling process a theme of grief that ends with acceptance, writing vocal harmonies, discovering Nirvana and Weezer as a kid, 2nd wave emo, Playing in the bands Take Today,...

A lot has happened since Adam Gogola was on the podcast two years ago.  Adam talks to Will about how the pandemic changed the release plan for his band's newest album An Act of Desperation which is now available, participating in Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd's death, the failures of capitalism, how working with others in your community is going to be the way forward beca...

Henry Menzel sits down on the podcast during an introspective time as he works on new music for his band Keep Flying.  He talks to Will about his Band's unique combination  of modern pop punk featuring horns, the bands songwriting process, Discovering Ska as a kid in New Jersey, the mission statement behind his band name Keep Flying, Warped Tour,the dichotomy of loving to be on stage and uncomfort...

Comedian Christian Finnegan's newest special was recorded outdoors during the pandemic and included a few jokes that were said outloud for the first time.  He talks to Will about putting together his new special Show Your Work, The cultural schism in stand up comedy, favorite bands and music, writing for the Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, The glory days of the NYC alternative comedy scene, and the...

Guitarist and Youtuber Pat Finnerty writes excellent music and has the knowledge of music to accurately and hilariously describe why some songs stink.  He talks to Will about the Scranton, PA music scene that spawned a bunch of incredible bands, his first band OK Paddy, the genre implications of PRS vs Schecter guitars, Uncle Kracker's song Follow Me, writing songs on Fiverr, the I V VI IV chord p...

Big D and The Kids Table just announed their first US Tour in a few years but their Guitarist Alex Stern stays active through multiple musical projects.  He talks to Will about Touring Southeast Asia with Big D, Collaborating with Japanese Noise band Melt Banana, Boston's Ska and music scenes during the 90s, Warped Tour, Reverend Guitars, The Big D songwriting process, demoing songs, Big D's upcom...

For Comedian Justin Auslaender getting a truck as a teenager changed the direction of his life drastically.  Justin and Will discuss their similar upbringings in rural Maryland, why he values his independence not just in comedy but in his work as a lawyer, how he got started doing comedy in Washington DC, moving to New York City, having a 2nd child during the pandemic, podcasting and how he balanc...

Devin Parker of Til Morning's music career began with his brother and continues with his brother to this day.  Devin talks to Will about the writing and recording of Til Morning's Singles Okay, and If She Only Knew, how story is central to his songwriting in terms of music and lyrics, how he started on drums as a 12 year old in Chicago's punk rock scene, booking weekend songwriting getaways, recor...

Podcaster Case Aiken and Will have both lived in Maryland and New York City but missed each other in both places. He talks to Will about common issues he finds with movies he covers on his show Another Pass, Growing up in Bethesda, Maryland, comic books, his background in Theater and playwriting, making his own theater projects in New York City while working in theater, freelancing, how he got int...

Bright Ugly Drummer and Will's bandmate Lawrence Miller combines the mind of a philospher with the raw physical energy that comes from being a punk, metal and jazz drummer. He talks to Will about the nature of performance and the physicality of playing drums, watching belief systems get broken down while studying philosphy in college, discussing the cultural impact of jazz music, growing up on hea...

Comedian Sean Lynch brings his background in Theater and Comedy into writing independent films.  He talks to Will about how Star Wars blew his mind as a kid, The Big Chill's influence on how he works with actors and approaches screenwriting, the movie he is currently in production on, His beginnings as a comedian at the Comedy Cellar, some sage show business advice from a veteran in the field, his...

Will's bandmate in Bright Ugly Freddie Heinemann have a very similar entry into the arts.  Freddie tells Will about using humor to deal with Bullying as a kid, playing in punk bands while studying Jazz, how numerous run ins with Authority figures in both College, and UCB shaped his life and career, moving to New York City to pursue comedy, recovering from a failed suicide attempt, why he had to st...

Comedian Nick Vatterott's new Stand up film Disingenuous showcases the solid joke writing and wry absurdity that Nick has been honing for years.  He talks to Will about Pinball, Comedy, and life, how similar the three are, starting in Chicago, the tone of arguments on social media, Stand up comedy's value in society, his new special Disingenuous, and how a movie he's making turned his home into a...

Russ Rankin's 1st solo album was a learning process of writing and solo performance, and he's brought everything he's learned about arrangements and songwriting into his upcoming 2nd solo effort Come Together Fall Apart out January 28th 2022 on SBAM Records.  He talks to Will about how he has grown as a performer and songwriter since his first solo album Farewell Catalonia, his admiration for the...

Jake Skolnick's band Quel Bordel may be the first band who have been told to turn down during a gig because they were upsetting the Whales.  Jake talks to Will about the band's new instrumental gypsy jazz album Dinner for Derelicts, his formative years as a teenager in France loving punk rock, being introduced to traditional folk music as a teenager, working as a performer on cruise ships where he...

It's the week of Christmas and that means it's time for Will and Paul Cohen to discuss the year in pop punk that was 2021.  It the 4th edition of a holiday tradition on the podcast Will and Paul discuss their favorite EPs, Singles, Full lengths, and in a welcome addition, live shows they were able to attend/ perform this year. Will and Paul's Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0IKq2vSG9W0G...

Comedian Courtney Fearrington and Will likely crossed paths in the Washington DC Comedy Scene before officially in NYC.  Courtney tells Will about growing up in Washington DC to military parents, joining the Marine Corp and being stationed in Japan, why you shouldn't go back to your home town, starting comedy, how underrated the DC Comedy scene is, his podcast Thug Passion Presents and the next st...

Comedian/Author Bob Gurnett moved to New York later in life than most comedians Will knows.  He talks to Will about growing up in Omaha, Nebraska.  working crappy retails jobs, how college football can help you out on when working black Friday in a red state, moving to New York City, the challange of finding a community when you first move to NYC, the next generation of comics he is seeing at open...