Witchpolice Radio

Letellier, Manitoba’s Bankside Music Festival is a long-running summer event aimed at giving rock/punk/metal bands from the province (and beyond!) an opportunity to play on a festival stage. I sat down with Bankside mastermind Richard Houle to talk about the event’s DIY roots and this year’s stacked lineup (July 17-18), which includes a whole bunch of past Witchpolice interviewees, including the B...

After years of changes, local alt-rock/dream-pop outfit Ozconscious is set to release a new full-length, ‘ Nostalgia for the Moment ’, at the Pyramid Cabaret on June 20 (that's tomorrow if you're listening the day this episode drops!)  I sat down with frontman Tate Hiebert to talk about the record, different songwriting vunes, learning from busking and playing cover tunes (via Tater and the Tots )...

Technical difficulties meant this one comes out a few days later than anticipated, but thanks for your patience.  Here's a fun conversation with singer-songwriter  Masak  about her 15-years-in-the-making, genre-diverse album ('Masak's Unassorted Flavors') , getting inspiration from her late friend and collaborator  Kelly Fraser , coming back to Winnipeg after a few years in (very) rural Manitoba,...

Long-running emo punks Screaming at Traffic recently dropped a new EP with the excellent title ‘ Songs to Steal Copper Wire To ’.  I sat down with (co-) frontman Jacques Richer to talk about the record, the band not taking itself too seriously, regrouping after some time off, and a whole lot more! Need more SAT? Check out episodes #243 (Aug. 2017) and #416 (Sept. 2019), plus you can hear Jacques'...

This one's jumping the queue because it's time sensitive. It’s the end of an era! Frequent Witchpolice interviewee (this will be his sixth appearance in the past decade) Ed Durocher and his merry psychedelic fusion big band Apollo Suns are calling it quits.  Here's our conversation about the band’s last show ( May 29 at the Park Theatre , see you all there), the realities of the music industry as...

Winnipeg’s Strawberry Punch is a self-proclaimed 'all-femme queer indie/pop/twee/punk rock band' who just released a deadly debut record and has all kinds of cool shit on the horizon.  Tune in for our chat about the origins of their (don’t call it a) supergroup, bouncing around swapping instruments from song to song, appealing to a very diverse crowd, and much more! Huge thanks to everyone who sup...

What the hell is going on here? It’s guest hosts Sean and Todd McGinity (of SeanGeek and Fastfret Podcast ) giving me a bit of a break and interviewing two-thirds of alt-rawkers Crooked Ice for Witchpolice Radio!  Tune in for their chat about the soon-to-be-released ‘DarkStars’ full-length (which was actually the previous name of their band) and much more! Fun fact: Crooked Ice's bassist (who does...

The man, the myth, the legend… Greg Rekus  is back on the show for his seventh appearance over the years! Tune in for my chat with the hardest-working man in folk-punk about playing a show with his heroes  The Bonaduces  (May 8, at the West End Cultural Centre, also feat.  Mise en Scene ), U.S. touring challenges, reintroducing ‘The Dude Abides’, and much more! Greg is a true Winnipeg original and...

In the most Winnipeg series of events ever, I randomly bumped into sax player/singer-songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist Serge Paul  downtown recently, which led directly to us doing a podcast interview about his new record, ‘ Gut Love ’. Tune in for a conversation about saxophone, Franglais, resurrecting old songs, and much more, in Serge’s first appearance on the show in a literal decade!...

Long-running indie rock duo Mise en Scene are back with a new record (and back on the podcast after a few years)!  Check out our conversation about ‘ Drive-Thru Confessional ’, putting out the album *before* the April 18 release show , why they work so well together creatively, defining — or, rather, not wanting to define — the Mise en Scene sound (Mise en Sound?) and much more! Need more Mise en...

I’ve been doing this podcast for eleventy trillion years and somehow — despite enjoying many of their various projects for the past three decades — I’ve never had either member of Poison Suckers  on the show.  That changes now! Tune in for a chat about their brand new 7" EP ( 'Charmer' ) on  Transistor 66 , Winnipeg trash, pro wrestling, watermelons, the power of the train whistle, and more! Plus...

Singer-songwriter Jacob Brodovsky is set to release ‘ Tell the Kids We Tried ’, his new LP, later this year. He came back for an interview on the podcast to talk about the record, changing artistic (and life!) priorities, and much more. Need more Jacob in your life? Check out episodes #371 (April 2019), #687 (May 2022), and an even earlier appearance on episode #314 (Sept. 2018) as a member of the...

Dogs and Winnipeg Beach and writing folk songs, oh my!  It has somehow been five whole-ass years (!) since the fantastic Two Crows for Comfort were on the podcast, so we caught up about their touring adventures, new (and old) music, and much more. Need more Crows in your life? Check out episodes  #330 (Oct. 2018), #573 (March 2021), and a live performance they did in my backyard for #404 (July 201...

Trying something new on this one: you're probably used to my show's titles starting with the episode number (this one is #1026), but apparently that hampers a show's ability to be found be potential new listeners on certain platforms, so this time we're testing the guest's name alone. Here's my chat with local indie-pop artist Chandler Pretty  about getting into the music scene backwards, the cine...

When Dog Pops were last on the podcast, they were a brand new band. Fast-forward to today, and they have the excellent ‘ Good Pudding ’ long-player out in the world and are playing their jangly little songs about animals and food all over town. Tune in for my conversation with Top Pop Marshall Birch, right here and ready for your earholes! Need more Dog Pops in your life? Check out episode #713 (A...

February is Black History Month, and among the many events happening across Winnipeg is Adele M. Wilding 's ‘ Steal Away: Songs of Hope and Resilience ’, a concert focused around the tradition and history of African-American spirituals.  Tune in for my conversation with Adele about honouring her West Indian roots, the way traditional Black music continues to show up in unexpected places even into...

Great conversation on this episode with Neville Hamilton from Steinbach reggae outfit Yaadies !  We talk about coming to Canada and bringing Jamaican music to a very unlikely location, getting his kids involved in the family band, spreading Caribbean culture across Manitoba through IRAL Music & Arts Festival  and much more! This episode brought to you by our pals at  Devine Shirt Company. Huge...

Now with repaired audio!  Veteran Winnipeg MC Len Bowen has been steadily releasing inspired hip-hop since his early days as a member of local icons Shadez .  In our latest (of many over the years) interview, we talk about his new record (' If You Don't See Me, You Saw Me ') , representing Winnipeg on a larger stage, getting recognition for his efforts, his songwriting process, and much more! (Not...

I listen to a pretty wide variety of music, so it’s rare that I get stumped on a genre, but J-Rock was a new one on me! Tune in for my conversation with locals Solaire about anime and video game music, Paramore tribute sets, their upcoming EP release ( Feb. 7 at the Handsome Daughter ), and much more! This episode brought to you by our pals at  Devine Shirt Company. Huge thanks to everyone who sup...

This episode features an interview with singer-songwriter Kris Rendina , who you may recognize from previous projects like Gold Mountain !  We talk about his imminent solo full-length,  The Moonflower Express (which will be released Feb. 5 at Sidestage), as well as peaks and valleys in songwriting, deciding to come back to music in an uncertain time, and much more. Need more from Kris? Check out h...

If you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you're probably familiar with my year-end rundowns of my favourite local (and local-adjacent) releases of the year. Usually it's this big, lengthy thing over multiple episodes, but this time I tried to keep it nice and concise.   Here are just a few of the 2025 releases I really dug last year. Some are full-length albums, some are EP...

Banjo-slingin’ death-song enthusiast Uncle Sinner is back with his first album in five years, the excellent ‘ Everybody Wants to Know How I Die ’.  Listen up for a great chat about the record, taking cover photos the old-fashioned way, Manitoba’s influence on musical bleakness (and rebirth), and much more! Need more Uncle Sinner in your life? Check out episode #483 (May 2020) and episode #600 (Jun...

Folk artist Ben Stopfel spent the majority of his musical career here in Winnipeg, before decamping to Nashville a couple of years ago and plying his trade as a songwriter in Music City.  He’s back home for a show at Public Domain on Dec. 28 (which means this one is time-sensitive and jumped the queue). Here's our conversation about the two cities, coming back to Winnipeg, the differences between...

Just over a year ago, folk singer Fernanda  appeared on the podcast for the first time.  We caught up to talk about her newly-released concept album, ‘Deer Trails’ , the name change from her previous Julie Fern identity, working with field recordings, experimenting with new genres, and much more! Need more Fernanda? Check out episode #953 (November 2024). This episode brought to you by our pals at...

It's another 'Manitoba-adjacent' episode! Shoegaze-inspired singer-songwriter Kevin MKAI  may be based in Toronto these days, but he cut his teeth in Winnipeg’s music scene of the early ‘90s.  Here's our conversation about his new music, his early experiences here in his hometown, poetry open-mics, having to change the spelling of his own name due to a DJ issuing a cease and desist, and much more!...