MAKE // BREAK, a Survival Guide for Creatives, Hosted by Lance Marwood

Episode 020 – Sean Martin | MAKE // BREAK Sean Martin is the vocalist, guitarist, and executive producer behind The Quarantined, a grunge/punk/metal project rooted in socially critical songwriting and real lived experience. A U.S. Army Airborne Infantry veteran who deployed to Iraq with the 3/509th, Sean channeled his post-service recovery into music, graduating from Musicians Institute in Hollywo...

Episode 019 – Mark Winters | MAKE // BREAK Mark Winters is a Texas-based singer-songwriter, poet, and former aerospace engineer who traded rocket science for rock with a positive vibe. Since his 2019 debut Slipstream , he's released four albums, built a loyal fanbase of over 36K monthly Spotify listeners, and launched his own label, Bernoulli Records . Now midway through a 107-date Good Vibes High...

Episode 018 – Samantha Willman | MAKE // BREAK Samantha Willman is a Canadian writer, designer, and editor based in Montréal. She co-founded and co-edits Romanticon , a Substack literary magazine dedicated to neo-romanticism and new sincerity, alongside Anthony Galluzzo , Paul Franz , and Matthew Gasda . She also publishes Marbl , a personal newsletter exploring intimacy, symbolism, and the interi...

Episode 017 – Peter Mahoney | MAKE // BREAK Peter Mahoney is a Toronto-based guitarist, recording engineer, and DJ rooted in the city's punk and hardcore underground. As guitarist for Workers Comp (who deliberately pulled their music from streaming in favour of Bandcamp) and a collaborator in UNWELL alongside Cursed/Burning Love/SECT vocalist Chris Colohan, Peter has spent two decades navigating p...

Episode 016 – Paul Thomas Van Valkenburgh | MAKE // BREAK Paul Van Valkenburgh is the vocalist and frontman of hard rock and groove-metal outfit TubeFreeks . On MAKE // BREAK with host Lance Marwood , he breaks down the music business realities of keeping a long-running band alive: the early “make” spark, the “break” moments of lineup shifts and stalled momentum, and the habits that rebuild trust....

Episode 015 – Eric Peterson | MAKE // BREAK Eric Peterson is the founding guitarist and primary songwriter of Bay Area thrash legends Testament , a band that’s spent more than four decades pushing heavy music forward while peers have fallen away. With Testament’s fourteenth album Para Bellum , he’s still co-producing, evolving the band’s sound, and keeping the riffs sharper than players half his a...

Episode 014 – Kelsey Dower | MAKE // BREAK Kelsey Maree Dower is a symphonic metal vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist whose cinematic writing style turns orchestration into front-line storytelling. Best known for her single “ Rage ” and the concept-driven album project Rebirth , she builds massive arrangements with a DIY, self-composed precision that still hits emotionally. She’s also a...

Episode 013 – Scot Little Bihlman | MAKE // BREAK Scot “Little” Bihlman is an Emmy Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and SAG-AFTRA actor, best known as the drummer/vocalist in Grinder Blues alongside dUg Pinnick ( King’s X ). In Episode 013 of MAKE // BREAK with host Lance Marwood , he unpacks what it takes to last: choosing quality of life over noise, staying present through...

Episode 012 – Aaron Farrell | MAKE // BREAK Welsh-born writer Aaron Farrell returns to MAKE // BREAK for a candid, high-signal conversation about discipline, identity, and creative survival. Author of The Lost and Found and the poetry collection Artbeat, The Ekphrastic Spastic , Aaron traces the path from lockdown essays and his “Violent Expression” column to an unflinching Barcelona manuscript, w...

Episode 011 – Dave Fowler | MAKE // BREAK Dave Fowler is a Nashville-based bassist, producer, and songwriter whose career spans work with icons like Dolly Parton , Dr. John , Cinderella , and Billy Ray Cyrus . A sought-after live and studio player, he’s also the co-founder of GET JOE Records , a producer at Fowler–Wells Productions , and the force behind Running With Giants , his mentorship and cl...

Garrett Barbuto is the frontman of Garrett Barbuto & The Hot Pursuit , a Calgary-based rock outfit blending classic energy with modern grit. Known for his soulful voice and grounded songwriting, Barbuto has carved out a space between old-school musicianship and new-era independence. With the band’s 2024 EP One More Glimpse and recent collaborations like “Why Be Lonely?” with Accidental Martyr,...

Episode 009 – Aaron Farrell | MAKE // BREAK Aaron Farrell is a Welsh-born writer and editor whose work spans travel-lit grit and sharp cultural criticism. He’s the author of The Lost and Found: A Contemporary Travelling Thriller of Good, Bad and Bohemian All Pursuing Their Passions – However Pure or Perverse and the poetry collection ArtBeat: The Ekphrastic Spastic , alongside essays that thread m...

Episode 008 – Ger Carriere | MAKE // BREAK Geraldine “Ger” Carriere is a Cree singer-songwriter , bestselling author , speaker , and the founder of Wild Woman Personal & Professional Development . Based in Saskatchewan, Ger’s work spans music , literature , and empowerment, each rooted in her mission to help women, especially Indigenous creatives, reclaim their voice and lead with purpose. Her...

Episode 007 – Robert Stahl | MAKE // BREAK Robert E. Stahl is the Dallas-based horror author behind Show Me Where It Hurts (JournalStone, 2025), a debut collection of 30 short stories and poems exploring grief, transformation, and the monstrous within. A former bartender turned writer and filmmaker, Stahl built his voice at the intersection of prose and comics, drawing on influences like Swamp Thi...

Episode 006 – Brandon O’Neill | MAKE // BREAK Brandon O’Neill is the founder, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist behind Wine & Warpaint, the Richmond-based indie rock project whose debut album Disassociate (2024) earned recognition as one of the year’s standout independent releases. Known for blending raw emotion with meticulous production, O’Neill has built Wine & Warpaint in...

Episode 005 – Garrett Anthony Rice | MAKE // BREAK Garrett Anthony Rice is an Irish songwriter whose double album Equinox has already drawn early praise as one of the most ambitious debuts of the decade. Recorded across Ireland and the UK with producer Chris Potter ( The Verve, The Rolling Stones ), the record spans 18 songs that move from swamp blues slide guitar to Britpop shimmer and politicall...

Collin Young of One Hundred Moons joins host Lance Marwood on MAKE // BREAK to discuss Black Avalanche, art, and the music business. Episode 004 – Collin Young | MAKE // BREAK 👀 What you’ll hear -Break down the sound and vision behind One Hundred Moons’ new album Black Avalanche -Explore why Collin sees music as a “third thing” beyond work and relaxation -Contrast stoicism, hustle culture, and th...

Episode 003 – Kentucky | MAKE // BREAK Kentucky is the musical project of Canadian artist Jordan Holman , whose debut album Second Chance Music weaves together near-death experience, hard-won clarity, and a refusal to quit. Influenced by The Tragically Hip , Neil Young , Bryan Adams , and R.E.M. , Holman’s work blends acoustic rock and indie folk with a voice that’s both intimate and unshaken. On...

Episode 002 – Cousteau Christopher | MAKE // BREAK Cousteau Christopher is the Santa Barbara musician behind Djentrified , a project fusing djent, metalcore, and deathcore with cinematic and political storytelling. His breakout single “This Song Shouldn’t Exist” went viral as a fundraiser for Palestinian relief, followed quickly by “Welcome to the Abyss” and “Harbinger.” With chart placements on M...

Episode 001 – Elan Mlgenovich | MAKE // BREAK Authors of Fate make jagged, blackened metalcore out of Los Angeles. Guitarist Elan Mlgenovich joins MAKE // BREAK to discuss the EP “Seat’s Taken” with producer Taylor Young and the band’s earlier studio work with Steve Evetts . He explains how the group formed during COVID, what DIY touring looks like on the ground, and why chasing platform algorithm...