Six Strings of Tension

It is an immense privilege to welcome genius guitarist extraordinaire Shane Parish to the show. Incredibly kind and humble, he radiates an essence of calm and clarity, while seemingly pulsating with musical vibration, excitement and wisdom. We walk through Shane's history as a player, discovering guitar and music as a teenager, and effectively dropping out of high school to work as a self-taug...

Very rad conversation with all around excellent dude and main man of The Modern Folk, Josh Moss. Remarkably prolific, immeasurably active in the scene, and a seriously deep thinker without the veil of pretentiousness, it's certainly a conversation that is worth your time to check out. We talk about musical exploration, and the constant evolution and experimentation of the Modern Folk and its n...

Just a super cool and inspiring dude, playing insanely rad music, running excellent labels, pressing vinyl like a boss - Michael Potter is for sure one of my favourite people I I have been fortunate enough to interview. We talk about Michael's experience of living in Minneapolis under the ICE reign of terror, and other horrors the American experience has to offer. But swiftly get back on track...

Really stoked to have a new (to me) player on the show who I only first heard this year. Matthew Geary is making probably the finest American Primitive guitar music I've heard in 2026, and he's been seriously getting out there, with two cassettes released this year on Carbon and Scissor Tail Records respectively, as well as playing a relentless slew of live shows, and touring with last wee...

A wonderful chat this episode with Rob Mohan, aka Night Owl. I really enjoyed this conversation - it took place between a bunch of travelling I had to do for work, and was a much needed refuge to decompress and talk guitar, music, art, community, family, and other interrelated topics of interest. Rob is a really special guitar player, who, to my ears, has mastered a unique style of playing which b...

Were I a gambling man, my money would be on everybody (in the world of instrumental acoustic guitar, which is, admittedly, a limited world of people) knowing the name William DeLee by the end of 2026. He is finger-picking wizard playing solo acoustic guitar, charango and ronroco in a style that has extended beyond the trappings of the increasingly popular American Primitive style, and embraced fla...

This time we have a great conversation with one of my favourite artists flying under the radar, Merit Fisher-Medrano. Merit performs under the moniker Sound and Voice, and released what is one of the finest albums of 2026, entitled "All My Dreams Are Absent From Me" on beautiful, hexagonally cut double lathe vinyl. If you have an interest in psychedelic acoustic music and great songwriti...

This episode constitutes a remarkably wide-ranging and thoroughly enjoyable conversation with Joe Tunis of Carbon Records; a creator and artistic conceptualiser of note. To the outside observer, Joe is an insanely busy musician, artist, and curator of musical releases and shows. He generally disagrees with being called "busy" (which is wild), but some of his ongoing projects include: put...

We return with none other than the mighty wielder of 12-strings for the bands Elkhorn and Universal Light (and bassist / six string player for a bunch of others), Jesse Sheppard. The conversation meanders through the valleys and creeks of American Primitive, the USA underground, the musings of a lifetime spent making and being surrounded by amazing music, making videos, putting together the legend...

For the first time on the podcast we have the privilege of being joined by a guitarist extraordinaire from that most illustrious of cities straddling between the Pacific coast and Blue Mountains, Sydney, Australia. He is a man with three decade's worth of experience as an active musician and DJ, and is currently carving out a path as an ecstatic primitive acoustic guitarist who dabbles in the...

Breaking out of the acoustic trend we've been riding for a while, I'm incredibly excited that on this episode we ascend the jagged, soaring peaks of transcendental, ambient, brutal death metal for a conversation with Cody Drasser of Long Island's wyrdest purveyors of brutality, Afterbirth. All the more special, we had this conversation on Cody's 48th birthday, and I'm pleased t...

Normality is restored this week as I have the privilege of chatting with acoustic guitar extraordinaire Ethan WL all the way from Boston. Ethan is part of the ever growing and snowballing third wave of American Primitive players, alongside the likes of Liam Grant, Joseph Allred and a blossoming plethora of young musicians in the USA (and around the world). We chat about his album The Pink House, t...

After a year of persistent requests, I finally agreed to let William Randles (aka Seven Rivers of Fire) interview me for the podcast... everything is backwards, but I'm glad we did it! Here is what Will has to say about this episode: On this episode we journey back to Ethekwini to finally hear from the man behind the mic, the host of this here fine podcast, the myth, the legend, the one and on...

As winter melts away in the southern hemisphere, and autumn begins to fall upon the north, we are joined this week by the singular Eli Winter. His elegant, articulate playing is matched only by his soft-spoken, honey-toned voice, and gentle approach to conversation. Eli joins us from his home in Chicago for a thoughtful chat, and throughout the conversation you can hear the sounds of traffic, back...

Well, this episode is an absolute treat. To Virginia! The heart of colonial America, but a more gracious reputation would be that it is the home of guitar phenom, artist, historian, folklorist, writer, vegetable grower, and excellent fellow, Daniel Bachman. And what a conversation we have! Of course, we dive deep into colonial history, its resonances to our current context, and unpacking the past...

I had the privilege of being joined this week by the singular guitarist, singer-songwriter, (former) guitar maker, and general scene-builder, archivist and custodian of weird acoustic music, Buck Curran. He is most notably recognised for both his solo work, as well as being one half of the folk duo Arborea. He has also curated stellar tribute compilations for guitarists such as Jack Rose, Steffen...

I had the absolute pleasure and privilege to chat with Tennessee's finest and kindest exploratory guitarist, vocalist and musical world builder, Joseph Allred. This is one of the most winding and expansive discussions we've ever had on the show, traversing themes of cultural appropriation, global imperialism, mental health, religion, the commoditization of culture and music, contemporary p...

Join us for this conversation as we drift across to continental Europe, to the city of Madrid where we explore the expansive and rich playing of the singular Xisco Rojo (and apologies for my poor pronunciation of names and album titles throughout our chat)! You will hear us unpack the joys of being a creator, unbound by regional and stylistic aesthetic, but existing as an outsider on the fringes o...

For this episode we traverse to the British Isles for the first time to speak with shadowy Welsh apparition, and apocalyptically dexterous Welsh Primitive player, Gwenifer Raymond. A lesson in Welsh musical history is imparted, with tales of Newport once being dubbed the "new Seattle" with flagship venue TJ's leading the charge (post-interview research reveals this is allegedly where Kurt Cobain p...

We bounce back to the USA, this time to Boone, North Carolina, to interview the young and fiery, Holzapfel wielding American Primitive and drone overlord, Liam Grant. Liam is one of those acrobatic beasts on six strings who can play at breakneck speeds with the masterful "double-thumb" American Primitive technique, but who can also slow things down to that old-time swing, and descend into cavernou...

This week we return to Durban to speak with the passionate (and productive!) Mandy James. Any Durbanites who are into the alternative scene will know Mandy from the many stages upon which she performs, the musical videos on her Instagram page, and the incredible energy and enthusiasm she brings to any instrument she wields. In the interview we discuss how her current bands, Saturn Return and Sons...

I never would have dreamed that by episode 5 I would be interviewing quite possibly my favourite guitar player currently tickling the strings, but here we are. For this episode I had the privilege of having a lengthy, and incredibly enjoyable conversation with the reputationally enigmatic, yet remarkably warm, Ben Chasny - the psych-folk, and at times, noisy musical adventurer of Six Organs of Adm...

Ah yes, episode four, and we're getting into some meaty deep conversations now. This time with the noise-making, guitar-smashing, all-round swell fella, Evan van Zyl. This one is really interesting, because, as discussed in the episode with Cameron Lofstrand, Evan is one of the most unique and distinctive guitarists in the Durban music scene. He is a very tall man who plays a rather small guitar,...

Who better for episode 3 than that beautiful man, Cam? Cameron Lofstrand is primarily known as the screaming demon and guitar abusing front man of Black Math, but can be found littered across stages and recordings all over the country, playing in bands such as Return to Worm Mountain, Taekwondo Sleepover, The Sisters, Hadeda, Feast of Famine, and most recently, Slump (along with heaps of other ban...

Second episode baby! This time with the refined and magnificent songwriter that is Barron Harley.  Personally, I believe his one man project, Ugly Boyfriend, features some of the best songwriting happening in the world today in terms of catchy, emotive and heartfelt outsider pop, with just a shimmer of punk leanings. He is, however probably most well-known for his punky, yet simultaneously un...