Washed Up Emo

Today we welcome Mitch Wilson from No Knife! Mitch and I have spoken to each other over the years and finally got some time to chat. We got deep into the San Diego scene, meeting Rocket from the Crypt and Drive like Jehu and early days of being on a label associated with a major. How No Knife met The Get Up Kids, their deep relationship with Lazycain and Jimmy Eat World. We find out that we both u...

Today we welcome John Vanderslice. I found out about John through his album in 2000 called, Mass Suicide Occult Figurines, on Barsuk Records. It stuck with me and I’ve followed him since. Last month, he released his latest album “The Cedars” on Native Cat Recordings. He’s on tour with Pedro the Lion and worth a listen if you’ve never dived into the mind of Vanderslice.  We talk about how he starte...

A documentary was released a few years ago called "Don’t Break Down," about Jawbreaker. Fun fact: Dan Didier, drummer for the Promise Ring, Maritime and Vermont was the producer of the film!  After seeing a screening of the film, I was fascinated at how much footage they had of Jawbreaker. I found out later from Dan that Adam was the one that has been saving everything. When I approached Adam to d...

Wow, we made it to 150 episodes. Crazy to think about all the folks that have come on to share their story with you and I. To that, a big part of this is agreeing to be open and talk about their music. American Football gets the gold star.  Before the reunions, in January 2014, Mike was on the podcast for the first time chatting about his career.  For LP2, I had everyone in American Football indiv...

David Bazan has always been on my list to be on the podcast, it just took almost 8 years. I always sorta thought he’d want nothing to do with me or the podcast. As with this stuff, I got over it and just asked. It worked and fittingly, David has also resurrected Pedro the Lion, with the first album under that name in 15 years. The album “Phoenix” out on Polyvinyl Records, is an amazing return. Dav...

Today we welcome Matt Traxler, guitarist from Brandtson. The band, out of Cleveland was on Deep Elm and The Militia Group back in the day and they recently reissued some lost demos through Matt’s label Steadfast Records. Super fun talking to Matt and a band that if you didn’t realize was around then or now, it’s worth going back and listening to their records.    Washed Up Emo is a partner of the...

I first heard Starmarket on the 3rd Emo Diaries compilation in 1999 and soon after they released their third album “Four Hours Light.” I was instantly blown away with the post-hardcore sound and the next level indie rock/emo sensibility. I never met these guys back in the day and with some reunion shows recently in Japan and their home country of Sweden, I slide into the DMs on Instagram to see if...

Today we welcome Steve Schiltz from Longwave. Steve is also an accomplished music producer and composer for film, TV and advertising. If you’re wondering why Steve is on. I have three reasons. First, when I moved to NYC, the Brooklyn thing was about to blow up and I was working at a label nearby a lot of these venues in the city where bands like the Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and others cut their te...

We’re back and stoked to have episode 145 of the podcast with Hutch Harris, most widely know from the band, The Thermals. Hutch and I have been conversing back and forth on Twitter for years. I’d always loved his take on music, especially the punk and hardcore references. As a fan of his band, The Thermals, I was bummed when not long ago they called it quits. In addition to Hutch being a songwrite...

Today welcome Erik Ratensperger from the legendary screamo band Jeromes Dream. Jeromes Dream were around for a very short time from 1997 to 2001 born out of the Connecticut hardcore scene. They had a unique way of playing by way of the singer Jeff Smith refusing to use a microphone for shows. Also, the band was known for playing very short sets, usually no longer than 10 minutes. Pretty unique. Th...

Lauren and I connected a few years ago and I found out she listened to the podcast! The stars aligned and we finally caught up recently to chat.  Lauren is a massive emo fan and we chat deeply about her early days playing drums in bands around Glasgow, Scotland that helped shape who she is today. She was in a couple killer bands before this including Boyfriend/Girlfriend and Blue Sky Archives. Bot...

If you aren’t aware, Anthony’s YouTube channel, The Needle Drop, is insanely popular and influential for reviewing music. How he ended up with this title of Internet’s busiest music nerd, is quite a story. Recently, Anthony and I connected over the phone to discuss how he got into doing this for a living and what he enjoys most out of reviewing music. Don’t worry, we got nerdy on some real screamo...

Today we welcome Justin Courtney Pierre, who you may know from Motion City Soundtrack, Farewell Continental or The Rapture Twins.  He recently released his first solo album entitled “In The Drink” that we discuss extensively in this episode and what it took to make it happen. We also chat about his upbringing with friends and family that helped him get into music, his years in speech therapy and t...

Today we welcome Ian King, author of Appetite for Definition: The A to Z Guide to Rock Genres.  This book contains 100s of genres explained and as we will discuss, there’s a way to jump around and learn about other genres by way of like minded artist, genres that connect and specific songs. I had the honor of being interviewed for the book and you can guess which genres I was a part of. We talk a...

The band is celebrating 20 years of The Moon My Saddle with a few select shows and it was time to get David on. This podcast episode is a lot about redemption and letting things go as times pass. One of those is an amazing quote on The Moon My Saddle when it first came out in Alternative Press. It says “David Moore on this record makes Huey Lewis sound like the king of the Delta Blues.” Then, 10 y...

Today we welcome Eric Melin from Ultimate Fakebook. Ultimate Fakebook are from Kansas and were on the amazing independent label, Initial Records. They toured with bands from the era including The Get Up Kids, At the Drive In and Motion City Soundtrack. Eric also was in a couple bands before that called Truck Stop Love and The Dead Girls. He’s also a film critic alongside his day job doing marketin...

Today we welcome Dave Brown. Dave helped start a zine called Muddle, co-founded Better Looking Records, did some marketing and PR under the name Holiday Matinee for your favorite bands and now lives in Seattle and works with Microsoft. Not a bad ride and for someone that was there in the moment and took advantage of what was around him. A truly great chat with someone deeply connected to the inner...

Today we welcome Ryan Grisham from Mock Orange! They’re back in the news a bit as they recently announced a 20th-anniversary tour for their very much loved “Nines and Sixes” album. Ryan and I talked about the band’s changes, their high profile producers they’ve worked with, how they were a midwest band but never really toured in the Midwest and their life in Japan that kept them going. Mock Orange...

Today we welcome Chris Popadak from Hawthorne Heights. Chris has been drumming with the band as a touring and session member since 2014 and joined fully last year. We connected because we’ve definitely used Hawthorne Heights as an example of when emo goes wrong and Chris wanted to set the story straight…. When we spoke over email he mentioned that he was into a bunch of the older stuff, the band k...

Today we welcome Nathan Hardy from the band Microwave. Microwave just finished up a little run with Jimmy Eat World and The Hotelier and it was high time to get Nathan to chat. We talk a lot about being labeled emo, his struggle and acceptance of growing out of the mormon church, being homeless for a time and feeling like a big kid when everyone else moves on and “grows up.” I remind him that Micr...

Today we welcome Tony Weinbender from Fest! Tony has curated an amazing festival in Florida started in 2002 with 60 bands has grown into the premiere independent festival with this year having 400+ bands performing across 3 days this fall. It’s simple, make something awesome and stick at it, people will support. Tony like myself started in college radio and booked bands at MacRock, the festival pu...

Today we welcome Anthony Green from Circa Survive, Saosin and the Sound of Animals Fighting. My history with Anthony goes back to the early days of Circa Survive and working alongside him at Equal Vision Records for the Juturna and On Letting Go album releases. As the years passed, we stayed in touch and would see each other as you do when a band rolls through town. Anthony was always super into w...

Today we welcome back Matt Pryor from The Get Up Kids. Matt and the boys have a new EP, Kicker, on Polyvinyl Records, out this week and it was time to get Matt back on to chat. We discuss how The Get Up Kids have stayed together all these years, their knack for writing EPs, I get caught saying I liked Jim’s songs better and you’ll hear why I owe Matt $25 for doing the podcast. Finally, we hear abo...

Today we welcome Dave Diem from Twelve Hour Turn and LAPêCHE. Twelve Hour Turn were an amazing post-hardcore band from Florida from 1997-2002. You may know them from their LP with I Hate Myself or 7" with Engine Down. My personal favorite is their LP The Victory of Flight. Dave and I chat about his time in Twelve Hour Turn, how independent music shaped him, why the band broke up and what led to LA...

When Henderson read about bands getting screwed by Victory Records in the news, he thought he could do something about it. So he actually went to law school. In this episode you’ll learn about how Henderson got into law, where his DIY roots started, and why he founded The Alternative. This is also a crash course about what things bands should think about when it comes to a lawyer. I learned a ton...