Only Three Lads - Classic Alternative Music Podcast

This week, Uncle Gregg and Brett step out of the classic alternative era to discuss their Top 5 Albums of 2022.  Anything goes...and it does! The Lads also play an informal game of "Have Yourself a Creepy Little Christmas"  (Note from Gregg: Brett doesn't even stand a chance.  Bow to your sensei!), draw the line at what does/does not qualify as a cookie, practice their Cookie Monster vocal techniq...

'Tis the season...for the 3rd Annual O3L Holiday Party, in which we invite members from the listener community to join us the recording of a special holiday themed episode.  Joining us this year: Paul from Stockton, CA; Tony from Mira Loma, CA; Julio from Puebla, MX (the returning game champ); Brian (Brett's brother) from Escondido, CA; Dr. Don from Overland Park, KS; Julie from Los Angeles, CA; a...

  We hope you're still hungry for more O3L this week, because we've got a musical smorgasbord for you! In celebration of Thanksgiving, we are discussing our Top 5 classic alternative songs with a tie in to food - whether it be the song title, lyrics, theme or band name. It's a horn o' plenty...of fun!   Come have a seat at our table - the grown-ups are boring anyway. Oh, and please send our apolog...

  We've done the maths: Episode 138 is filled with a whopping (and quite coincidental) 138 minutes of "enjoyable weirdness."   Joining us to discuss the Top 5 Albums of 1989 is the singer/songwriter/guitarist from London's The Jack Rubies, Ian Wright. From 1986 to 1990, The Jack Rubies released a clutch of singles and two albums on TVT Records - 1988's comp Fascinatin' Vacation and 1990's See The...

Oi, you happy heads! Jump on the rollercoaster and head straight into the heart of love, because this week we're turning the songs of 1979 inside out!  With 1979 being arguably THE greatest year for songs within the O3L era, these are definitely the songs that changed our lives. If our thinly disguised song references weren't enough of a giveway, it is our biggest thrill (last one, we promise) to...

We're not crying...YOU'RE crying! We're just cutting leeks or something.   As Sir Elton John once sang, "sad songs say so much." Gee whiz, you hit that particular nail on the head, El. This week, the Lads ruminate on some of the saddest, most somber, depressing - and yet often comforting - songs of the O3L era. These are sad songs that definitely say so much.   Joining us is one of the best songwr...

This week, O3L is comin' at you L.A.M.F.!  (Oh, that's Los Angeles Milk Family, of course...) We're talking American punk rock in the '70s.  Our Third Lad this week is not only someone who experienced the music firsthand, but was one of the writers who championed and chronicled many of the greatest names in not only punk rock, but music in general.   Michael Goldberg joined us for Episode 114 foll...

Only Three Lads is a fun, lively music commentary podcast celebrating the Golden Age of Alternative Music from 1974 - 1999.  Each week, Uncle Gregg and Brett Vargo (and, in our earlier episodes, Bueno) run down their Top 5 lists for a different episode topic, aided and abetted by a variety of "Third Lads" - musicians, writers, comedians, fellow podcasters, or the collective O3L community.  If you...

Happy Halloween!  If you didn't get your fill of O3L this week (which strangely tastes similar to circus peanuts), here's a fun-size O3L Halloween Special.  Uncle Gregg and Brett bring you their Top 5 songs to add to your spooky playlist.  It's spoooook-tacular!  OK, no more Halloween puns... There are two crucial rules at this time of year: 1) Don't feed Gremlins after midnight; and 2) Don't let...

"Honesty is hardly ever heard." - Billy Joel Don't worry, we're not going all Billy Joel on you, but this week we're talking about the songs where honesty is heard loud and clear.  True to this week's theme, we are elated to be joined by the brilliant writer Allison Landa, whose recently published memoir, Bearded Lady, is unflinchingly honest, bold, brave, vulnerable, funny-as-heck, and always eng...

This is PART ONE of our conversation with the great Jeff Murphy from Shoes.  Stay tuned for the second part where we get into our Top 5 lists!   Of course, we travel all over the musical and geographical map on O3L.  This week, we stop firmly in the heartland of the ol' US of A - the 12 states that the Census Bureau has declared as the midwest.  Far away from the show-biz epicenters of Los Angeles...

This is PART TWO of our conversation with the great Jeff Murphy from Shoes, where we get into our Top 5 lists.  If you haven't already, make sure to check out the first part for much more!   Of course, we travel all over the musical and geographical map on O3L.  This week, we stop firmly in the heartland of the ol' US of A - the 12 states that the Census Bureau has declared as the midwest.  Far aw...

Put on your spelunking gear and go deep into some of the classic albums of the O3L era. This week, we're picking out some album tracks on well-loved records that weren't plucked as singles, played to death on the radio, or endlessly compiled.   Along the way through this classic alternative cave, Uncle Gregg stumbles down all sorts of side holes, lamenting missed opportunities and defining his ide...

  Get ready for a powerful O3L...and not just because we're talking about '80s power pop. This week, we are very pleased to welcome Renee Schyjer, wife, muse and soulmate of rockin', rollin', power-poppin', wild feline frontman Freddy Moore.   Whether you know him as Freddy, his Midwest alter ego Skogie or mild-mannered offstage Rick, Frederick Moore was quite possibly the biggest rock star you've...

Well, we've finally gone and done it!  After spending multiple episodes last season digging into Athens, GA music with some of the scene's most pivotal figures, the Randomizer has decided that it's time to dedicate an entire episode to the Classic (Alternative) City!  We discuss so many greats in this episode, from REM, The B-52's, Pylon, Love Tractor, Oh-OK, Magnapop, Kilkenny Cats, Flat Duo Jets...

45 minutes!  "Concise" isn't usually the word that you'd use to describe O3L, but this week we bring you a concise episode that's almost live.  This one was recorded, edited, produced and published mere hours before release.  Anything goes...   This week, we pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and count down our Top 5 Royal Songs - in other words, songs containing regal titles in the titles (huh?)....

How punk is this week's episode, you ask? First of all, the Third Lad this week is Matt Dell.  Matt was the singer for Canadian pop/punk band I've Got Gloria, and is now a full-time, evidence-based vocal coach and music teacher with Registers Music.  Through his innovative techniques, Matt is working with singers, bands and actors to harness the power of their voices.  As his website states, "Lear...

Get ready for a spiffy new episode of Only Three Lads!  It's Brett's birthday, so what better way to celebrate than with one of his favourite O3L-era topics, Britpop.  In this Be Here Now-sized episode (c'mon, you Britpop kids get it!), relive the records, stories, triumphs, tragedies, superstars and should-have-beens of the biggest British musical and cultural phenomenon of the '90s.    This week...

This week, we're all about showing the love to the '90s artists that we feel are underrated.  Well, we're all about that, and talk sports, celebrity death matches, Finnish politics and classic Dr. Seuss characters...but we're mostly about underrated artists of the '90s. Apropos to this topic, we are very pleased to welcome author Andy Frye as our Third Lad.   Andy is a music and sports scribe who...

Whether you spent the decade at the clubs covered in foam or not, electronic music was everywhere in the '90s.  Much like those foam parties, Uncle Gregg and Brett (aka DJ B-Var, aka Graham Cracker?!?) get wild, bubbly, frothy, and are naked from the waist down.  OK, so one of those things is not true, but we'll let you decide which one...   This week, The Orchids are back in the O3L Spotlight, an...

Sup up your beer and collect your, um, elk bagels (???) and meet us down at The Eatin' Rifles, as we gab about one of the greatest artists of the O3L era, Paul Weller with the marvelous Terry Banks from Dot Dash! Terry followed The Jam's career in real time and counts them among his biggest influences. Brett is a Weller uber-fan, and Uncle Gregg is a casual fan who is diving deep into the Weller-h...

Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream...or is it tune in, turn on, drop out? Either way, pour yourself a nutmeg tea and join us as we trip out, um, we mean discuss our Top 5 Psychedelic Albums of the O3L era. It's all in the mind!   Our Third Lad this week is the "wild man of C86," singer/songwriter/guitarist Robert Sekula of the Brighton, England indie band 14 Iced Bears. Formed in Brigh...

**Please note: This is Part ONE of our two part episode.**   Yeah, we're brassed off this week...but in a good way, because this week we're back with a two-parter discussing our Top 5 Songs with Horns with one the loveliest guests we've ever had on, HELEN McCOOKERYBOOK!   Helen McCookerybook started playing bass in Brighton, England punk bands in the 1970s, before forming the John Peel-approved in...

**NOTE: This is Part TWO of our two part episode.**   Yeah, we're brassed off this week...but in a good way, because this week we're back with a two-parter discussing our Top 5 Songs with Horns with one the loveliest guests we've ever had on, HELEN McCOOKERYBOOK!   Helen McCookerybook started playing bass in Brighton, England punk bands in the 1970s, before forming the John Peel-approved indie ban...

Who likes to rock the party, you ask? Why, that's a good question...because WE just so happen to like to rock the party!   Get ready for the wildest classic alternative rager ever, going down RIGHT NOW at Club O3L. Everyone is invited (except for YOU, Rob Reiner!). It's a DJ throwdown this week, as DJ B-Var ("Gnawing the logs of funk, baby!") squares off against DJ Greggy P ("Take a journey down t...