Performance Anxiety

Today’s guest has unusual mentors. It’s Dan Montgomery and he’s got a new album out called Cast Iron Songs and Torch Ballads. We start off reminiscing about the great state of New Jersey and how local radio was a huge influence on him, back when stations would play a wide variety of genres and styles. He started playing in bands at the tender age of 14. And Dan gives a few wild stories from some f...

Today’s guest makes me want to read more dictionaries; but old, slang ones. He’s Joe Cannon from Resurrectionists. Joe comes from a family that isn’t exactly musically inclined, although his dad DID play a mean steering wheel. Joe didn’t start pursuing music seriously until he went to Notre Dame in South Bend. At that point he REALLY got into it. He not only played music, but also got national tou...

Welcome to one of the friendliest episodes ever! Jonathan Colman of Muscle Tough joins me for a great discussion about his unique career. He’s really the only artist in his family. But what a supportive family! Jonathan’s gateway into music was Weird Al. He got into music more as a rapper and breakdancer than musician; that is until he heard his first electric bass. Then it was love at first liste...

My guest this episode is Simon Kerr of The Wans. We start the show discussing Guinness, Irish coffee and mead. Makes sense…Simon was born in Ireland and I’m mostly Irish. But he grew up in Northern Ireland whereas I did not. His parents were both very musical and imparted that on Simon. It took such deep root in him that his dad is actually his writing partner to this day! That started when Simon...

This episode is very personal to me. My guest for this show is my brother, Scott Shea. He’s written an in-depth biography of The Mamas and The Papas. But don’t think he’s on just because he’s my brother. There’s no nepotism on this podcast! It’s really a fascinating read. And Scott road to getting it published is a true DIY story. The book gives the backstory for all four members of The Mamas and...

I’ve mentioned having a list of people I’ve wanted on this podcast; like a unicorn list. Today I get to cross another person off of it. Jeremy Toback is one half of the duo Renee & Jeremy, which started off as a personal project, singing lullabies for their kids. Before that, he had a solo career, releasing three albums under his own name. But it was the project that launched his solo career that...

Welcome to another episode of Side Projects. Today we welcome back Eszter Balint and Charming Disaster’s Ellia Bisker & Jeff Morris. If you listen on a fairly regular basis, you might notice that I like many different genres of music. One area that I was never drawn to was musical theater. Most of it seemed too campy and over the top. That’s why I asked these specific guests to join me for this ep...

The first time I ever heard Vashti Bunyan was as the theme song for the Amazon Prime TV series Patriot a few years ago. But the song was so beautiful, I let it play through every episode. I did some digging to find out more about the song and was surprised to learn it had originally been released in 1966! The more digging I did on Vashti and her music, the more fascinated I became! Why had I never...

Brian McSweeney and Shawn Rios from MIIRRORS were kind enough to join me for this episode. They began this band as a duo, taking their time, writing music together and slowly making this into a unique project. Brian and Shawn recount how they met on a plane and bonded over the second Sigur Ros album. They were both working with different bands but there was definitely something there. When they fi...

This episode began as a cool conversation without much structure with two guys in visual arts who create music as a passion. But it turned into a deeper conversation about the creative processes for both mediums. Kevin Mellon is a storyboard artist for Archer & Hitmonkey, among a lot of other credits. David Heatley has drawn illustrations for The New Yorker, The New York Times, and more in additio...

Songwriter, singer, author, and musician’s advocate Shelly Peiken joins the podcast in this episode. She’s written some of the biggest hits of the past 30 years like What A Girl Wants, Almost Doesn’t Count, Come On Over Baby, Bitch, and so many more. Shelly talks about what got her into music as a kid and how she pivoted from a career in fashion to music. Being a hit songwriter was not straightfor...

Scott Crow…wow! This episode goes everywhere. Music is just one part of the wild story that is the life of Scott Crow. It began growing as the son of George Jones’ drummer. He grew up around the insanity that was Dee-Doodle and Tammy Wynette. So to rebel, Scott got into heavy metal and started playing in bands at the age of twelve. All of this changed when he discovered Mark Stewart & The Maffia....

Let’s give a warm welcome to Angel Ocana, the force behind Forest Circles. Angel grew up in Brooklyn surrounded by a lot of Spanish music that he didn’t understand. So it’s no surprise that when he discovered that his dad was a DJ, he gravitated to the pop music library his father had collected. Angel began playing music as a drummer and in addition to his father’s pop music, he began to be influe...

This is another first for the podcast. Welcome the band Nyte Skye to the show. The band is made up of Nyles and Skye Lannon, a father and son duo who have just released their first album on Sonic Ritual. You may recognize Nyles from the band Film School or from his solo work. We start off talking about Nyles’ early days playing in college bands before taking several years off working in tech for C...

Paul Hiraga, also known as the band Downpilot, is my guest. Like most of my episodes, we discuss how he started playing music. Unlike most of my guests, the guitar he learned to play on was haunted! But, that didn’t deter him. Paul discovered he had a natural aptitude for music theory, In fact he used to get in trouble because he would finish his lessons so fast, his mom thought he wasn’t doing th...

Today we’re talking about music and it’s effect on mental health. And right off the bat, I want to make the disclaimer that neither I, nor my guest Autumn Whitaker, are mental health professionals. This episode is about our experiences and how music has helped us get through some of our issues. We also talk about the effect social media has on mental health, what music we listen to to turn things...

This episode features singer and saxophonist Lora Logic and it’s a wild story. It actually begins with her mother’s escape from her rural Finnish farm upbringing. It shaped how she raised Lora. But it was that farm where Lora felt most happy. She talks about going through several instruments before she fell in love with the sax. And then there’s her creepy sax teacher who made her really uncomfort...

This is a packed show. I’m joined by Lyle Hysen & David Motamed from The Royal Arctic Institute, John San Juan of The Hushdrops, & Keegan Ferrari of An Errant. The show is about tribute albums: when did they start, their explosion in the 90’s, and do they matter anymore. There’s a reason I asked each of these guests on for this topic. This podcast is producing our own tribute album with 12 former...

I’m really excited for this episode. I’m joined by independent music renaissance man, Oliver Ackermann. He studied industrial design at Rhode Island School of Design, founded the bands Skywave and A Place To Bury Strangers, began the effects company Death By Audio, as well as a performance space of the same name. He’s also founded two record labels, the latest being DedStrange. The whole story beg...

Dylan Hicks hops on the podcast to talk about a lot of stuff. He started off taking piano lessons until his piano was stolen. His first real foray into professional music was volunteering at a radio station. In fact, he was just as passionate about writing about music as he was writing music. After years of playing music, he started a family and left music completely to start a career writing. So...

Welcome Ivan Julian to the podcast. We begin, as usual, by discussing what got him into music. But spending a good part of his childhood in Guantanamo, Cuba, on a military base, his answers are a bit different. Fast forward a bit and he talks about meeting Richard Hell and joining The Voidoids, why he left the band, and what came next. One of the things that came next was working with Matthew Swee...

KB Boyce is today’s guest. He’s been playing music since the 70’s in elementary school. In fact, that’s the main focus of our discussion. KB sang and played bass for the NYC based punk band Nastyfacts. Their only release was a three song EP called Drive My Car that came out when they were in high school! The band was together for 8 years and broke up so they could GO TO COLLEGE! That blows my mind...

Welcome to my most punk episode ever. I am pleased to welcome Phil Marcade of The Senders. They have a new double album out called All Killer No Filler. It chronicles, as this episode attempts to do, the band’s nearly continuous history from 1977-2001. But we go even farther back. Phil talks about moving to the US from France when he was a kid. There’s a lot of great stories around forming The Sen...

So today we’re going to be talking about the gear and business sides of music. Ben Kleinman, founder of Ray Raydecker audio cables is my guest.  Ben talks about what music really flipped the switch for him and, not being a musician, how he started immersing himself in music by booking artists. After some misadventures, he started playing guitar and becoming obsessed with gear. All of this fed into...

Today I chat with Elana Justin of Motive Black. Her debut album is dropping and after I had a chance to listen to it, I asked if she would do the podcast. I knew we’d have a great talk about the album. How could we not? It was produced by Nick Rowe who’s worked with Madonna, Vampire Weekend, Snoop Dogg, & Lamb of God, among others; but it also features a duet with Carla Harvey of Butcher Babies, a...