Starting Rumours: My Life as a Mockstar

Send us Fan Mail Alex Lifeson has spent decades shaping the soundtrack of millions of lives, but this conversation isn't about reliving the glory days.  We talk about creativity, staying curious, the evolution of being an artist, and how life changes when the spotlight fades but the passion never does. Alex shares stories from a career unlike any other, reflects on the friendships that have c...

Send us Fan Mail Some people interview musicians.  Garret Woodward becomes friends with them.  This week, I sit down with acclaimed music journalist Garret Woodward to talk about the stories that happen long after the notebook closes. From writing for Rolling Stone and his beloved This Must Be the Place column to camping in Appalachia, finding community through music, and earning the trust of arti...

Send us Fan Mail Mark Cobb has spent decades helping artists build careers, bands, and legacies -- but behind every great story is a balancing act between music, family, and figuring out what really matters.  In this episode of Starting Rumours: My Life as a Mockstar, Mark and I talk about creating something that lasts, the sometimes complicated relationship between music and politics, and what it...

Send us Fan Mail Here's an update on the trademark filing.  Stay tuned for Season 2...coming JUNE 26TH! Support the show Thank you for listening to Starting Rumours: My Life as a Mockstar. Follow, share, and leave a review to help the show reach more listeners.  Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.  © 2025 Mekenzie Zimmerman. All rights reserved....

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the bonus video episode / Season 1 recap of Starting Rumours: My Life as a Mockstar . When I started this podcast, I thought I was just telling a story about the past. But this season became something bigger. This episode is a look back at the full journey — from the basement beginnings, to the chaos, the heartbreak, the fallout, and everything that came after. I’m revi...

Send us Fan Mail When I started Starting Rumours: My Life as a Mockstar , I thought I was telling a story about the past. About the basement. The stages. The fame. The fallout. But somewhere along the way, this season became something else. It became reclamation. It became clarity. It became the first time I got to tell the story in my own voice — without interruption, without distortion, without...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I walk through what actually happened after I quit: the harassment, the legal pressure, the WIPO filing-- and why I ultimately chose to protect my work, my name, and my peace. I talk about what it's like to stand your ground while pregnant, uprooting your life, become a parent again, and rebuilding from the inside out.  This isn't a revenge story. It&apo...

Send us Fan Mail This episode was hard to make. Not because I didn’t know what to say — but because I’ve spent a lifetime learning how not to say it. In Episode 8 of Starting Rumours: My Life as a Mockstar , I stop performing strength and start telling the truth. About growing up in chaos. About abuse. About the ways trauma shapes your voice, your body, your anger, and your need to survive at any...

Send us Fan Mail There’s a moment before you leave something important. Not the argument. Not the blow-up. The moment when you realize you’ve been explaining yourself for too long. In this episode, I talk about what led up to my leaving the band — the slow power shifts, the silences, and the things I kept telling myself were normal… until they weren’t. I walk through the day I finally left, and th...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, the fantasy finally cracks. Shatter Your Illusions of Love is about the moment you realize that what you thought was love was actually control, confusion, and carefully constructed chaos. It’s about the slow unraveling—the gaslighting, the emotional whiplash, the way your instincts keep whispering something isn’t right even when everything looks fine on the outsid...

Send us Fan Mail Every band has a breaking point-- but it never arrives all at once. It starts quietly. A strange silence in the van. A look you can't quite read. A decision that feels just a little off. A moment where your stomach says, something's changing, even if no one will say it out loud.  In this episode, I open up about the first fractures I felt forming inside the band I built...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the road-warrior era-- the part of the story where absolutely nothing made sense, but everything was hilarious. In Episode 4, we're piling into vans, chasing shows across the map, surviving on gas station snacks, and learning how to be a "touring band" one questionable motel at a time.  This is the episode with the funny stories, the long drives, the insi...

Send us Fan Mail In this chapter, we step out of the spotlight and into the darker corners of the story-- the places where ambition meets fear, loyalty tangles with ego, and the pressure of being "Stevie" starts to press in from all sides. This episode dives into the quiet moments behind the music: the long drives, the backstage whispers, the heaviness that builds when cracks start showi...

Send us Fan Mail Eleven years ago, long before tour buses, sold-out theaters, and all the chaos that came later, there was a tiny Atlanta venue called The Star Bar — and one band dream just starting to take shape. This episode goes back to where it all began: the very first Rumours ATL show. A night held together with equal parts nerves, thrift-store velvet, Craigslist gear, and the kind of naïve...

Send us Fan Mail Every story starts somewhere, and mine began in a basement filled with laughter, late nights, and the first spark of a dream. In this first episode of Starting Rumours: My Life as a Mockstar, I revisit the early days— the friendships, the music, and the moments that quietly changed everything. It’s the beginning of the story before the spotlight, when everything still felt possibl...