The Hustle

Tanya Donelly is a pioneer. She was a founding member of three of the most important female-fronted indie rock bands in history - Throwing Muses (with her step-sister Kristin Hersh), the Breeders (with Kim Deal), and her own Belly. She's also forged a successful solo career that includes her latest album, a collaboration with the Parkington Sisters that is a fantastic covers album. We go deep on h...

Seven-time Grammy winning producer/engineer/mixer Steve Thompson returns to the show to deep dive the posthumous release from John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Milk and Honey from 1984. Made up of half Yoko songs and half songs John was working on when he was murdered, the album features his last hit "Nobody Told Me". Steve discusses his work on the album and his relationship with John and Yoko, but also...

Immediate Family bassist Lee Sklar is one of the most recorded musicians of the rock era. Like the other members, Lee earned his bona fides playing with people like James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne, but his longest and tightest collaboration has likely been with Phil Collins. We talk a lot about working with Phil and the songs Lee's especially proud of. In addition, there are storie...

We are extremely honored to welcome back producer Bob Rock to deep dive The Cult's 1989 breakthrough album Sonic Temple. We learn all about Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy's mindframe when they created it, how Bob achieved the sound they were looking for, how classic songs like "Fire Woman" and "Edie (Ciao Baby)" came to be, and how the Cult relate to other Bob Rock affiliated bands like Metallica, Mo...

Has anyone managed to pass through puberty without being slipped a copy of the Violent Femmes' debut album from 1983? It's become a rite of passage - every generation passes it down to the next. This week we talk to original drummer Victor DeLorenzo about his time in the band (he left many years ago), how they found their name and style, the album covers, his acting career, and his current musical...

This week is heavy metal cult hero Thor! After Jon Mikl won buckets of bodybuilding championships all over North America, he decided to enter showbiz and took on the Thor persona nearly 50 years ago (imagine He-Man as a rock star). Combining his love of hard rock, comic books, superheroes, and performance art, Thor put on eye-catching live shows where he'd blow up hot water bottles and bend steel....

In this very special bonus episode we look back at the life and career of Canadian guitar legend Jeff Healey. We're joined by his widow Cristie Hall Healey and one of his best friend's Roger Costa, Co-Administrators/Archivists for the Estate of Jeff Healey, to talk about the glory days with the Jeff Healey Band, filming Road House, his transition to jazz trumpet in the late 2000s and what's in the...

In 2020 Air Supply's dynamic duo of vocalist Russell Hitchcock and guitarist/songwriter Graham Russell are celebrating 45 years together. And in that time they've recorded many of the most immortal ballads in pop music like "All Out of Love," "Lost in Love,"  and "Even the Nights are Better." What sometimes gets lost is that these guys did more than just these soft rock staples. Graham Russell dis...

Jon and Jan recap the second quarter of 2020, how the last three months feel like three years thanks to Covid, the former guests we've lost this year, and give our thoughts on the last three months worth of shows.    https://www.patreon.com/thehustlepod

This week is another member of the Immediate Family, legendary session guitarist, producer and songwriter Waddy Wachtel! Like the others, Waddy has been in the business for almost 50 years and played with everyone you can think of. In here we talk about his early days with the Everly Brothers and his time with Stevie Nicks, Keith Richards, Adam Sandler and Warren Zevon (including co-writing "Werew...

We are welcoming back maybe our favorite guest ever, the one and only Fee Waybill! Fee returns to deep dive the Tubes' breakthrough album from 1981 The Completion Backward Principle. We hear what it was like working with producer David Foster, why this was a make or break album for the band, and how hits like "Talk To Ya Later" and "I Don't Want to Wait Anymore" were created. Fee also has a fantas...

Musicians, keyboardists, gearheads, lend us your ears! Jay Graydon is back to tell us the story of the famous E Electric Piano which was a sought after session instrument in the early 80s and how it's been sampled and is now for sale. He also discusses a new Youtube channel is starting where he will share tricks of the trade and we hear stories about David Foster, Ray Parker Jr. his approach to pr...

Jay Graydon is one of rock's most wildly successful multi-hyphenates. He was a first call session guitarist in LA for most of the 70s with one of his biggest claims to fame being the solo on Steely Dan's "Peg". He also wrote huge hits for artists like DeBarge, George Benson, and Earth, Wind and Fire, formed the fantastic, but short-lived band Airplay with burgeoning mega-producer David Foster, and...

For my money, INXS are one of the greatest bands in rock history. To have recorded that many pop/rock masterpieces is an absolute miracle. As we all know, they were cut short with the death of Michael Hutchence and each member has picked up the pieces in various ways ever since. Co-founder Andrew Farriss was, along with Michael, the main songwriter of those classic jams and he's now dipped his foo...

We are honored to bring back UB40 founding member Robin Campbell to talk about the band's latest album For The Many from 2019. This highly political piece of work is a perfect look at our current time in history and expresses the frustrations of many of us living in this turbulent period. UB40 have always had a knack for expressing the feelings of the politically oppressed and For The Many continu...

Producer Chris Hughes has been behind the boards for some very important music, but you wouldn't have guessed it if you go back to the beginning. Chris started out as the drummer in Adam and the Ants. That burundi sound that made Adam so special? That was Chris! He began producing the early Adam albums which lead to other high-profile gigs like Tears For Fears' The Hurting and Songs From the Big C...

Guitarist Derry Grehen of Canada's Honeymoon Suite returns to Deep Dive the band's 1986 breakthrough album The Big Prize. This fantastic piece of work deservedly brought them a lot of success on the back of killer tracks like "Feel It Again," "Bad Attitude," and "What Does It Take." We also talk about how Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull ended up in the mix! The Big Prize is honestly one of the best AO...

Suzi Quatro is the original rock chick and a stone-cold legend. She's currently celebrating 50 years in the rock world and finally getting her due as the pioneer that she is. This legacy makes her the perfect subject of an incredible new documentary on her life called Suzi Q. The film details her early years as a teenager singing with her sisters in Detroit, her global rise (though not in the Stat...

This week we welcome back one of our most entertaining guests, producer Alan Shacklock to deep dive Roger Daltrey of The Who's solo album from 1985, Under a Raging Moon. This chat includes stories like how bandmate Pete Townshend came to write the hit song "After the Fire", how songwriters like Jim Vallance and John Parr got involved, and how the epic title track, a tribute to Keith Moon that feat...

Danny Kortchmar has built a wildly successful career that has lasted over 50 years. This career has included playing guitar for legends like his childhood friend James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and Carole King. It has also included producing people like Don Henley, Ivan Neville, Billy Joel, and Jon Bon Jovi. And, lastly, there was songwriting for artists like Hall & Oates and John Wai...

Some of the greatest session musicians in history have come together to form the hottest supergroup in the land - The Immediate Family. Made up of legends Lee Sklar on bass, Russ Kunkel on drums, and Waddy Wachtel, Danny Kortchmar and today's guest Steve Postell on guitar. Their first single, "Cruel Twist" drops today! To kick things off, Steve tells us how the band came together and how he, as th...

When someone we love passes away we do our best to pay tribute to them by having a discussion with a former guest that knows them. With the surprising passing of Rupert Hine we invited back Duncan Sheik to discuss his work with Rupert and our thoughts on his career. Please take a minute to enjoy the work of Rupert Hine by playing something wonderful that he worked on! 

Engineer Shelly Yakus is famous for having some of the "best ears in the business." And these ears have served him well for over 50 years. John Lennon's "Imagine"? That's him. BOC's "Don't Fear the Reaper"? Him too. Benchmark albums like Moondance, Berlin, Music From Big Pink and Rattle and Hum all pass through Shelly Yakus. Some of his greatest work might have been with Tom Petty, like Damn the T...

What's it like being the frontman for the most popular cover band working today? Does it provide a nice life? Is it artistically fulfilling? These are some of the questions discussed with Nick Niespodziani, lead singer for the mighty Yacht Rock Revue. Nick discusses how a mid-life crisis birthed their new album of original, yachty, material called Hot Dads in Tight Jeans and how his band's success...

Songwriter Shelly Peiken could be considered the "Queen of the Woman Empowerment Anthem." She's written tons of songs for tons of artists - everyone from Britney and Celine to Miley and Brandy. But her two biggest anthems are also her biggest hits - "What a Girl Wants" by Christina Aguilera and "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks. These days she's taking matters into her own hands as she prepares to releas...