HITMAKERS

Eric Miko Findlay has been with SoCal alternative/post-hardcore band Seahaven since they formed in high school (he actually started on bass and switched to drums after auditioning for his own band!) They had a great run in the early-mid 2010s, then went dark for 2 years, then made a new record and got ready to hit the road juuuuuust in time for touring to get cancelled. We talk about that, recordi...

WE'RE BACK BABY! Our first of 2021 and features none other than NATE MORTON from the HOUSE BAND on THE VOICE!!⁠ Nate grew up banging on pots and pans, idolizing Animal from the Muppets. Through studies at Berklee and a move to LA, he's played with loads of people whose names you know. And while his current gig brings him to your living room every week, he says he's still 4 years old banging on pot...

Looks like we made it! Our final episode of 2020 is an interview with none other than BRENDAN BUCKLEY! He's a touring/recording freelance drummer based in Los Angeles, California. You may know him from his work with Perry Farrell, Shakira, Tegan and Sara, many others. Originally from New Jersey, he started drumming the way many of us do - seeing a drumkit and thinking "that thing looks so cool! i...

Clare rips the kit (and the glock) with Halifax indie-pop superstars Hillsburn. Before dropping out of Humber, moving back home and joining a touring+recording band, she'd been considering a career in chemistry. She even applied for a job at a place that made cymbal cleaner. But as everybody knows, music is a much more stable path (hehe) and here we are! Tune in to hear us reminisce about our band...

Tyler is a session drummer in Los Angeles, California. He was raised on top 40 and classic rock in Sacramento, but it was a Blink-182 show in the early 00s that changed his life. Since then, he's toured the world as a backline tech for artists like Usher, Demi Lovato, the Chainsmokers and Anderson .Paak. He's drummed with Charlie Puth, Noah Cyrus, Kiiara and many more. He's played Coachella, Rock...

We finally did it! People have been saying "you should get Loel on the show" since we started this thing. For listeners on the East coast (maybe Canada in general), this man needs no introduction. For those who don't know, Loel is the drummer for WINTERSLEEP. he has also worked with acts like HOLY F*CK, COLD SPECKS, MATT MAYS, CONTRIVED, THE HOLY SHROUD and more. These days he's living the quarant...

Sean Winchester is a Los Angeles studio & touring drummer with credits including Everclear, Buckcherry, Smash Mouth, Strung Out, Giants of Rome, Josh Todd and the Conflict, and more. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Sean currently spends most of his time working out of his North Hollywood studio Wolf Den Recording. We talked about music school, the current state of gigging, the current...

Tucker Rule has been in the game for a minute. A hardcore kid from New Jersey who discovered underground music via skateboarding, he formed the band Thursday with his friends in order to open shows in a basement (it should be noted that these shows were headlined by bands like Saves The Day, At The Drive-In and Hot Water Music). DIY touring led to a surprise hit on MTV and the band blew up, only t...

How does a kid from Houston, TX become the drummer for a legendary California punk band that's been around longer than he's been alive? What's it like winning the Guitar Center drum-off? These and other questions answered as we chat with Isaias Gil! Originally from Acapulco, Mexico, Isaias has been working as a session drummer in Houston since his teens. He's been in Modern Drummer, recorded for M...

"Timothy Crofts is a true 21st Century pianist. His main focus is improvisation and world music aesthetics. In performance, Timothy explores the full sonic capabilities of the acoustic piano through extended techniques and a wide range of piano preparations. He is able to coax a variety of colour and extreme dynamic contract through employing traditional and non-traditional techniques in tandem."...

Change begins at home. Your faithful host and his younger brother (beloved MTL comic James Brown, known for his work with the iconic SQUAD LAUGHS) decided a few months ago to read a book on systemic racism and record a podcast talking about what they learned. They chose this one because it seemed to be circulating, they'd heard of it, seemed like a good starting point. This is not so much a book r...

The new DOG DAY album is out THIS FRIDAY (Aug 14)! The first one in 7 years! We sat down with KC and Meg from the band to talk drums (they're both drummers and multi-instrumentalists, with such acts as NOT YOU, DIAMONDTOWN, CENTURY EGG, GEMSTONES, BAD VIBRATIONS etc), astrology, touring in other countries and much more!!!

Paypal Visit? Papa'll Visit? Is The Pope on the show? Elon Musk? Your dad? You'll have to listen to find out. JK, Papal Visit are Pierre Cormier and Adam Mowery. A recording project that became a live band (with help from some of Saint John's heaviest hitters), they have a new single out called "Destroy the Hive." To these ears, the A-side sounds like Joy Division doing garage rock, while the B-si...

Chad is the singer and songwriter from the band Kestrels. Their new album "Dream Or Don't Dream" comes out THIS FRIDAY, July 10, 2020. If you miss the "alternative rock" people made in the 90s, you'll dig Kestrels. J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr plays on the record. We talked about that, meeting Steve Albini, touring, recording, Eric Clapton, Myspace, buying $25 CDs, DOD guitar pedals, the creative proce...

Chris Murdoch has been drumming in the Halifax, Nova Scotia hardcore scene since the turn of the millennium. By his own count, he's been in about 20 bands. He's played with Envision, Outtacontroller and currently Souvenir, fronted Word On the Street, and recently authored "Black Dots: An Afropunk Primer", available via Pentagon Black, which you should buy right now because it's only $2 and all pro...

Ben Hardy, PhD is an organizational psychologist and bestselling author. His blogs have been read by over 100 million people and are featured on Forbes, Fortune, CNBC, Cheddar, Big Think, and many others. He is a regular contributor to Inc. and Psychology Today and from 2015-2018, he was the #1 writer, in the world, on Medium.com. He's got a new book out called "Personality Isn't Permanent" and he...

What a world. If you need a break, here's over 2 hours of nothing really important. This episode was recorded way back on May 30th with Nova Scotian musicians, sweethearts and jokesters Corey Isenor and Liam Frier. Listen to the end for a live performance (not the one they attempted to do over live stream from different locations, that one is kinda cool but kinda weird. keep going). Check out Core...

We sat down with singer-songwriter, recording engineer and host's-younger-brother MICAH BROWN for a wide-ranging chat on bands, the east coast vs the big city and an exclusive live performance! (almost) ZERO TALK ABOUT COVID-19! ENJOY!!!

WE'RE BACK BABY! The Season 3 home opener is something a little different. HITMAKERS: AFTER DARK is our live TV show, happening every Saturday night at 11pm (Atlantic Daylight Time) until quarantine ends and we can go to shows again. For the kickoff episode, we sat down with Saint John singer-songwriter JASON OGDEN (also of the bands PENNY BLACKS, PAPAL VISIT and HOSPITAL GRADE) to discuss the Nei...

(Please don't sue us, Allen Klein or Tom Scharpling) One for the true heads! Let's get (meta)physical! Where have we come from? Where are we going? We're going to borrow a descriptor from a Vice article about Metallica recording "Ride The Lightning" and tell you that this is a "wild ass" tale of how one man's career crossroads led him to the streets of Saint John. Season 2 is done! Binge the whole...

LEAKED! A brand-new track from the Halifax shoegaze darlings' debut EP "Thin Veil", out later this week. Just call us Julian Assange, without all the... actually... don't. Instead, press play! Rock hard! 🖖

Jo rules. She works as a theatre tech and puppetry teacher here in Saint John. She left behind a career as a painter for film in Vancouver, working on projects with celebrities like Nicolas Cage and.... I wanna say Denzel Washington. She's no stranger to moving around the country, first as a minister's kid, then in a touring hardcore band, then just following her own muse. Great episode. Come hang...

Surprise!

A classic drum episode! We talk about stuff we like and stuff we can't stand. Clinton is more of a Groovy Gus than a Charlie Chops, if you catch our drift. Inspiration, tone, thoughts on Jojo Mayer, Dave Elitch, Ash Soan, Anderson .Paak, Hal Blaine, Jim Keltner, Jay Bellarose, Ringo Starr, Bernard Purdie, John Bonham, ?uestlove, Carter Beauford and more. We even find time for a laugh or two.

My best piece of drum advice at 38:29! Surrounded by info on the past and future of this podcast and its theme song, thoughts about streaming music and much more. *(the title is a Bad Religion reference if u did not get it it) (it's the worst bad religion song)(im playling guitar in a bad religion cover band s00n)