The Hustle

The way producer Niko Bolas tells it, he's never worked a day in his life. He went into a studio about 45 years ago and just never came out. Along the way he's worked with many of the greats like Toto, Kiss, Steve Perry, Keith Richards, Linda Ronstradt, the Jacksons and tons more. One of his strongest bonds has been with Neil Young who he partnered with in the 80s and has never left. They continue...

Stereo MC's are coming back to the states this month for the first time in 24 years. It's a short trip - three shows on the east coast in three nights - but it's a start. Frontman Rob Birch joins us this week to discuss the band's history. They broke big with "Connected" off their third album (that song still sounds just as fresh and groovy today), but they took 9 years to issue a follow up and mo...

By the late 70s, drummer Dony Wynn thought his music career might be over. Nothing was really happening and he wasn't holding down gigs. Then the great Robert Palmer heard him and everything changed. Dony joined the fray around the Secrets album in 1979 and stuck around for the next 15 years or so. Dony joins us this week to tell us what it's like working for Robert during his peak (and post peak)...

This is epic. XTC guitarist Dave Gregory returns to the podcast to give us all the scoop on the creation of XTC's 1986 masterpiece Skylarking. The album almost can't be listened to without an understanding of the behind the scenes stories - the animosity between Andy Partridge and producer Todd Rundgren chief among them. This essential album was recently given the Steven Wilson Dolby Atmos treatme...

Whether you know it or not, you've been listening to Fonzi Thornton for almost 50 years. As teenagers he and Luther Vandross formed a lifelong friendship and devoting their lives to music pays off for both - Luther becomes a giant among giants and Fonzi becomes one of the most sought after backup singers ever. Starting in Listen My Brother with Luther and friends Carlos Alomar and Robin Clark turn...

Who doesn't love a good list! Music nerds especially will spend hours debating one topic or another. Author Gary Graff returns to the show to discuss his new book - 501 Essential Albums of the 90s. Gary discusses the process for compiling the book, the writers involved, covering various genres and, most importantly, what was and wasn't included! Be sure to tell us what you would have made your lis...

WARNING: EXTREMELY SENSITIVE CONTENT Ken Stringfellow was a founding member of the Posies, who enjoyed a long career as one of the best power pop bands of the 90s and beyond. He also held down recurring gigs with REM, Big Star, Giant Sand and many others as well as a solo career. In 2021 this was all upended when three women accused him of sexual assault. Since then almost all of his musical partn...

Like it or not, this is the year of Redd Kross! This underappreciated power pop band is coming at you with an assault of good stuff in 2024. They have an incredible new self-titled album, a memoir called Now You're One of Us, and a fantastic new documentary called Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story. Jeff and Steven McDonald started out as pre-teens in the hardcore scene in Southern California, bu...

This week is synth pioneer Peter Godwin! In the 70s he was a part of the very arty and European band Metro who are best known for being the originators of the song "Criminal World" that was covered by Bowie for the Let's Dance album. Peter went solo and recorded the worldwide hit "Images of Heaven" that still lives on today as well as an album and some EPs, but the rest of his career has been sort...

The Blue Nile would never be accused of being overly prolific. In 20 years of activity, they only managed four albums, two of which, 1984's A Walk Across the Rooftops and 1989's Hats, are absolute masterpieces. Ask Taylor Swift if you don't believe me. The hallmarks of their unique sound is part Paul Buchanen's soulful voice and part PJ Moore's wholly unique synth work. In 2023 PJ Moore and Co. fi...

We all miss Prince. It's a hole that will never be filled. Imagine what it would have been like to be a part of the Revolution during his peak 80s period. He can play every instrument better than his band members, but he's reliant on them to put on incredible concerts and keep his musical instincts in check. It's not an accident that he made his best music when he had them as collaborators  "Dr."...

Author Graeme Thomson returns this week to discuss the updated release of his 2012 book, Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush. He had no idea when he finished that book 12 years ago how Kate's profile would change in the next few years. From induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, to the rediscovery of "Running Up That Hill" by millions of new fans, to her Before the Dawn concert...

Music writer Chris Charlesworth joins us to discuss his new book, Just Backdated, which depicts his years writing for Melody Maker in the seventies. Every music lover would kill for a job like this and Chris was the lucky guy that had it. He befriends his favorite band (the Who), sleeps with groupies, parties with everyone, lives the high life in NYC, goes to concerts every night, and hangs out wi...

We've got a unique twofer for you this week. First up is Mr. Big frontman Eric Martin! Eric had been at it for a decade before Mr. Big happened. He fronted bands in the Bay Area and recorded a solo albums that were as poppy as it gets. Luckily, Mr. Big worked out and they just completed their "last" tour and released the live album, The Big Finish as a memento. They've been extra busy beecause the...

The wonderful Carlos Alomar returns to discuss the new Luther Vandross documentary, Luther: Never Too Much. Carlos and his wife Robin Clark have been friends with Luther since high school and that friendship extends from their first group together, Listen My Brother, to them all being introduced to David Bowie for the Young Americans album and beyond. The film shows his launch as one of the greate...

The Bolshoi flirted with Goth and synth pop in the late 80s, but what they ended up doing was releasing some great alternative rock songs. "A Way", "Lindy's Party" and "Sunday Morning" still hold up and tours with Peter Murphy and Sisters of Mercy should have propelled them further, but it didn't happen. Eventually the band splintered with lead singer Trevor Tanner moving to FLA and going solo and...

Ska Week concludes with author Daniel Rachel and our discussion on his fantastic new book, Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story. This essential document tells the story of one of the most revolutionary record labels created to release some of the most revolutionary music ever made. Created by Jerry Dammers in the late 70s, 2 Tone was meant to be a safe place for interracial bands like the...

Bassist Horace Panter has been a valuable and reliable sideman for his entire career. He starts out as a founding member of the Specials, contributing mightily to the magic sound of that revolutionary band. After their demise, he joined forces with Dave and Roger to form General Public and rode that wave for a few years. Since then, he's been around for nearly every version of the Specials includi...

We're kicking off "Ska Week" with a conversation with author Marc Wasserman about his new book, Sole Savation: A Gen X Love Letter to the English Beat. Marc writes beautifully about his tough childhood - specifically a broken family life and poor health - and how the band's last album, Special Beat Service, got him through all of it while also informing his lifelong love of music and ska. These ar...

We continue celebrating Morrissey's guitarists this week by hearing from longtime collaborator Boz Boorer! The love of rockabilly runs deep with this group and was central to Boz and Moz hitting it off. Boz stuck around for decades and co-wrote many of Moz's best songs including "The More You Ignore Me", "Maladjusted", and "Jack the Ripper". Right now he's about to release a solo album called Morr...

The wonderful Dean Pitchford returns to the podcast to deep dive the gargantuan soundtrack to 1984's Footloose. After winning the Oscar for "Fane: in 1981, Dean set about creating the entire world of Footloose - the songs, the screenplay, etc. It's gone on to sell millions and millions of copies and never left the zeitgeist. Dean goes track by track giving us all the stories behind the songs. He a...

For the next two weeks we're celebrating the guitarists that make Morrissey the artist he was. First up is the great Alain Whyte! Alain was brought on in 91 to simply mime behind Moz in a video, but once they realized how much they had in common musically, he stuck around for the next several years, not to mention he co-wrote many of his best songs like "Alma Matters", "Glamorous Glue" and "Billy...

Man, the Bangles had a ton of hits in the 80s. It came to an end by the end of the decade, but what a legacy. From there, guitarist and founding member Vicki Peterson took a break from the spotlight and got involved with a sort of mini supergroup called the Continental Drifters. Originally, the Drifters were made up of LA musicians looking for something to do, but their live shows were hot and the...

Drummer Omar Hakim is one of those players you know it's him when you hear him. He's been the go-to guy for dozens of legends for over 40 years. Artists like Miles Davis, Sting, Bowie, Dire Straits, Kate Bush rely on him to make them the best they can be. These days, Omar is excited about a new project called Sonic Boom Squad which is almost a solo project. In a fit of creativity he wrote and reco...

Carmine Appice is one of the few drum legends we have left. What's interesting to me about his career is that his name is usually bigger than the bands he's in whether it's Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Beck, Bogart, Appice, King Kobra, Blue Murder or his side work with Rod Stewart and Ozzy. These days he's turning his attention to Cactus, who recently released a new album called Temple of Blues where th...