The LIFERS Podcast

It’s another road report. It’s also Gabe’s lunch hour — so he’s a little hangry. And pickle obsessed. Gabe is obsessed with pickles. This episode is sick. Not the good sick. The bad sick. Listen at your own peril.

Poor Mike Alonso. He’s played drums in a ton of bands (including Flogging Molly, Electric Six and Five Horse Johnson), was on a first name basis with Dio, saw “Dawn Of The Dead” IN THE THEATER on its original release, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of every bootleg from Black Sabbath to CCR —but even with all of THAT— the guy still thinks he’s not terribly interesting and doesn’t understand why...

About as lifer-ey as they get, Kevin Seconds is just one of those guys. The kind of guy that inspires you to be more creative, more independent, more mindful of those around you. He just fucking makes you want to be better. At least that’s what he did for us, and we couldn’t be more honored to have him on the show. On this episode we talk to Kevin about 7 Seconds (duh), building a scene in Reno, C...

Get in the van with Scott, hunker down with Gabe, and eat an edible and chill with Ben. This episode has it all — and less. Recorded in the middle of Local H’s latest white-line exodus back from the west coast — the guys talk about… well, shit. What DID we talk about???

The second week of the HCTZ tour finds the boys temporarily laid-up in Willows, California. Ben hears things, Scott talks, Gabe laughs, Ryan pees and Dave spends the episode in the bathroom. Plus PEARL, The Holocaust, Triumph and more on an all-new LIFERS Road Report!

Despite Scott’s objections, the Road Report is back! On this edition we discuss (if that’s the word you could use for it) the HERE COMES THE ZOO tour, trucker strange, Dave Lugo, the best road songs, the sweariest movies, “Barbarian”, open caption, PEN15, the “c” word — and in an effort to save the episode, Ben pulls out a new episode of Local H Song Imploder.

Having somebody believe in you for five minutes is hard enough — having somebody believe in you for over 20 years is a goddamn miracle. This week we talk to long-time Local H manager Eddie Applebaum about his musician parents, the recording of HERE COMES THE ZOO, Coke commercials, street teams, Morningwood, Flickerstick, Scott’s adventure in Russia, Tick Tock, Jerry Only, and why Eddie hates this...

Some sound guys are assholes — and some sound guys are beloved low-key gods. Paul Massaro falls into the second category. This week we talk to the former Local H sound guy about his remarkable life working with Cheap Trick, Mastodon, Brazilian Girls, Paul Anka, Triplefastaction, Seam, and supervising the sound for the Pitchfork music festival. He also tells Scott’s favorite story.

Our guest fell through and Scott is out of friends — so this week we’re going guestless! On this episode we talk with Greg Corner (okay — Scott has ONE friend) about the Joe Cassidy tribute show at the Metro this Sunday, Gabe tries to sell us on Cinderella, best Aerosmith songs, full of shit Boston songs, muscle shirts, “The Sadness”, and Ben stages an impromptu “Song Imploder” on one of Local H’s...

If you follow this podcast at all, you probably know that Gabe is an inexplicably huge fan of GREASE 2. Well, we figured that for our second movie commentary episode, we’d throw Gabe a bone and cue that sucker up (if you happened to catch our Christmas episode where we watched IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, you’ll know what to expect). And in the interest of providing some context and behind the scenes kn...

Just in time for the 20th anniversary of HERE COMES THE ZOO — we finally convince former Local H (and Triplefastaction) drummer Brian St. Clair to do the show. On this episode we talk to the bird-watching legend about recording with Jack Douglas, Bobby Brady, the correct way to pronounce Cheap Trick, Rod Stewart’s dick pics, selling Misfits records to Gabe, the break up of Triplefast, being one of...

It stands to reason — the longer you stay in the game of writing and performing music, the older your audience gets. But Kay Hanley’s audience has only gotten younger. She went from pumping out the catchiest Cheap Trick influenced alterna-pop for the alterna-kids of the ‘90s in her band Letters To Cleo — to entertaining the kids of THOSE kids writing songs for shows such as “Doc McStuffins” and “D...

Max Crawford has been a revered and respected member of the Chicago entertainment community for over 30 years. He’s a sought after trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist who’s played with Wilco, Poi Dog Pondering, Archer Prewitt, The Waco Brothers, Scott Lucas & The Married Men, and even Willie Nelson. He’s also a long time bartender at the Metro — perhaps you’ve been served by him once or twice...

In the Chicago music scene of the ‘90s, nobody’s rise seemed more sudden and meteoric than Veruca Salt’s — but that success was the culmination of many years of dreaming, conceptualizing , and waiting patiently for the right group of people to come along. And to hear singer-guitarist Louise Post tell it — a bit of luck and some chance encounters with actress Lili Taylor didn’t hurt either. We’re b...

It’s an excellent day for an exorcism. After singing the praises of Joe Barresi’s awesome remix of Dio’s “Holy Diver” album (and NOT doing that for FX’s “The Bear”), the guys invite Michael McMahon over to the mic to talk about “Raging Bull”, his time as a detective in New York City, AC/DC, and being Justine’s dad. Unfortunately, things did not get very far due to a certain diabolical corn chip… A...

If the Music Box Theatre is a church (and to Scott, it definitely is), then Julian Antos is its high-priest projectionist. As the beloved movie house’s technical director —as well as being a co-founder of the Chicago Film Society— Julian has been preaching the celluloid gospel for over a decade. But to hear him tell it, it’s been a lifelong addiction. On this episode we talk about having a 70mm pr...

Is Matt Walker Chicago’s most prolific drummer? Or as Gabe says, “The Skunk Baxter of drums”? Maybe. In any case, we love the guy and on this episode we talk about his pretty amazing career as drummer for (among others) Cupcakes, Filter, Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, and fucking Morrisey!!! Also discussed: Michael Shannon, Sons Of The Silent Age, having Sinead O’Connor as a houseguest, favorite Bowi...

Ed Valauskas is good people. Called the Zelig of the Boston rock scene, Ed is your go-to guy if you need to form a quick pick-up backing band for a music legend —or need to record an album full of Olivia Newton-John covers. He’s also the de facto musical director of the annual Hot Stove, Cool Music shows (the Chicago edition is coming up on July 1st at the Metro) and the studio manager at Boston’s...

Way out in Chicago there was this fella... fella I wanna tell ya about. Fella by the name of Gary Kessler. At least that was the handle his loving parents gave him. There was a lot about Gary that didn't make a whole lot of sense. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place so darned interestin'. They call it Liar’s Club. And Gary lives a few floors...

You might know Pete Beeman from being the drummer in Guzzard —a mainstay of the early/mid ‘90s Minneapolis Amphetamine Reptile scene— or you might know him from his time playing for Burning Brides. But you’re probably going to want to know him from his latest band: the thoroughly excellent Killer Hill — a band that just so happens to be one of the finest metal bands around right now. But Pete’s no...

Don’t even think of listening to this one at work. You WILL get fired. The Beer Nuts are the, um, Chicago gold standard for hooky, lawsuit-skirting, morally questionable, insult-comedy punk-rock (does that cover it?). At the center of this circus is the, um, mind of Joe Kelly: Part imp, part clown prince, and more than a little delinquent. He’s also a true lifer that has written some of our favori...

Freda Love Smith is retiring. She’s an indie-rock icon who’s been in more bands than you’ve had hot meals. Her first band —the fabled Blake Babies— helped define the late ‘80s/early ‘90s Boston music scene. Her tight, multi-faceted style of drumming evokes everyone from Moe Tucker to Ringo Starr. But that part of her life is about to end in a little over a month when —due to a variety of reasons—...

If you were a fan of smart punk-influenced power pop in the ‘90s, chances are that one of your favorite “shoulda-been-bigger” bands from that decade are Ruth Ruth. This week, the band’s guitarist (and Ben’s old Park Slope Copy Center pal) Mike Lustig pays a visit to the show to talk about Ruth Ruth’s (sorta) beginnings as a blues band, why he hates the name of every band he’s ever been in, opening...

This episode has everything: Justine, Karen, Pittsburgh, picklebacks, padawan soundmen, Ryan, Rookie, birthday pizza, Greg Suran meets Skunk Baxter, big organs, Phil Spector fanclubs, Pink Floyd fanboys, end of tour ennui, jalapeño poppers, the return of “Mind Games”, and the specter of Gary Coleman refuses to go away. It’s a madhouse.

We love Tamar Berk — and now you’re going to love her, too. Tamar came up in the ‘90s Chicago scene with her band Starball, but her finest work would have to be the pair of excellent solo records she released in 2021 and ‘22. On this episode we try to figure out how that happened. We also talk about mean scenes, moving to (and moving out of)Portland, Matt Walker, finding your voice, Rush, being in...