Stereo Embers: The Podcast

“Shavo Odadjian Is Always Busy” You probably tell people you’re super busy all the time, but very few people are Shavo Odadjian busy. The System of A Down bassist is one of those guys who runs at his most optimum when he’s got a full day ahead of him. This comes as no surprise—after all, this is a guy who, during his college days, went to class, managed a band, played in a band and worked at a bank. Although System of a Down are one of the biggest bands on the planet and Shavo could sit back and rest on his laurels, one could argue that he’s busier now than ever. HIs latest endeavor is 22 Red, a lifestyle and fashion brand that features pre rolls and vapes that were exclusively made for the company using lab-tested compliant cannabis. In this chat Shavo talks to Alex about where the inspiration for the company came from, why he works best when he’s busiest and what his college counselor told him when he said he wanted to drop out of school and pursue music. Shave also talks about being a dad, his relationsh

“Matt Costa Moves To A Different House Every Time He Makes A New Record” Singer/songwriter Matt Costa is one of the most affecting musicians around and his new album Santa Rosa Fangs is brimming with the hushed pop finesse of Elliott Smith and the lush precision of Roddy Frame’s Surf. In this conversation he reveals that whenever it’s time to make a new record he packs his things and moves to another house. Costa’s fifth album may have been written in a different house than his previous four records, but Santa Rosa Fangs explores the definition of home in a much larger sense. Set against the backdrop of a California that’s both mythical and literal, the album traverses the nuanced landscape of the West Coast in an effort to apprehend life’s tragedies and triumphs. From the aching pull of “Pacific Grove” to the wistful marching pop of “Time Tricks,” Santa Rosa Fangs effortlessly captures the rich textures of Northern and Southern California with novelistic dexterity. In this candid, focused and intimate conve

“The Amazing Kreskin Drops By The Program” And we hope he does again! The Amazing Kreskin stops by for a chat with Alex and they talk about why psychiatrists are crazy, the prescience of the Manchurian Candidate and the power of suggestion. And nobody knows about the power of suggestion more than Kreskin. He's not a magician, an occultist or a psychic who’s equipped with powers of telepathy, precognition, or mind control. But he is a mentalist and a mentalist is someone who, through the power of suggestion, can make you think he can do all the things we just told you he can’t. But what they do better than anyone else is invoke belief and Kreskin’s been doing that since the ‘50s. An entertaining and focused chat, Alex and Kreskin also talk about Bob Hope, Winston Churchill, Hitler and Jaws. And how does the episode close? With Queen’s “A Kind Of Magic,” of course….

“Right Before This Interview Lyrics Born Told His Son There Was No Santa Claus” On a late summer day in September, just hours before our chat, Lyrics Born told his son there was no Santa Claus. He figured it was time. Lyrics Born’s son is 8. If I had a son I’d probably wait until he was…43. But LB explains his thinking behind breaking the news early and not only that, he explains a lot of other things as well in this illuminating chat. We talk about racism, spousal illness, the rising cost of healthcare for independent artists and why LB has no hip-hop exit strategy. We also chat about his new album Quite A Life, what it was like to grow up in Berkeley and why he felt it was time to address in his music the things he hadn’t addressed before.

“Jay Aston Got Mono From The First Girl He Kissed” A rough romantic start for sure, but don’t worry, everything worked out for Jay Aston. While convalescing from his illness, the Welsh teenager started to listen to music in a more forensic fashion than he had before. Taking in Bowie, Eno and Roxy Music, Aston began crafting his own artistic vision. Moving to London with his twin brother Michael, Gene Loves Jezebel garnered immediate attention and were soon signed to a Beggars Banquet offshoot. Within a few years they had become one of the most well-known bands around and with hits like “The Motion Of Love” and “Desire” were poised to crack the U.S. market. But internal strife, brotherly animosity and label woes derailed the band at a pivotal time. In this candid conversation Aston talks to Alex about his relationship with singing, the rigors of the creative process and what it means to be in Gene Loves Jezebel in 2018. He also talks about his penchant for taking long walks, singing in the choir and how he’s

"The Trews' John-Angus McDonald Says Brothers In Bands Will Always Work It Out" And he should know. After all, The Trews' guitar player John-Angus has been in a band with his brother Colin for most of his life. Whether it’s Oasis, The Black Crowes or The Kinks, John-Angus tells Alex that brothers will always work it out no matter what. Although the Kinks have indeed reformed, the jury’s still out on his other two picks. However, the jury is not out on The Trews’ new album Civilianaires. The verdict? It’s a straight-up killer. A blistering batch of breathy muscle (“Vintage Love”), crunchy stomp (“Time's Speeding Up”) and stadium sing-a-longs (“Bar Star”), the band’s sixth album is further proof that the Trews refuse to make the same record twice and are always moving boldly forward. John-Angus talks about the resignation of the band’s longtime drummer Sean Dalton, growing up listening to Guns n’ Roses and The Trews’ habit of post-show analysis. He also tells Alex about R.E.M., fatherhood and having a piano-pl

“Is Tom Bailey The J.D. Salinger Of New Wave?” It’s a fair question. When Bailey sang for the Thompson Twins in the ‘80s, he was everywhere. But in the ‘90s, he was nowhere to be found. Like Salinger, his hiatus was by choice. After years fronting one of the biggest bands in the world, Bailey was nowhere to be found. But while Salinger’s absence from the creative life was an inexplicable mystery punctuated by occasional sightings and not a word to the press, Bailey’s was more domestic. After the Thompson Twins’ demise, he married his bandmate Alannah Currie, had a few kids and moved to Currie’s native New Zealand to start a family. The couple recorded two albums as Babble and then Currie gave up music for environmental activism and art, while Bailey spent his time on scoring film soundtracks and producing other acts. After a 2014 appearance at the Rewind South Festival where he played Thompson Twins songs for the first time in 27 years, Bailey got the pop bug again and rediscovered his love of the paradigm.

“David J Says Peter Murphy Is Keeping Everyone In Stitches” Although it’s hard to imagine the Dark Prince of Goth is also a fountain of chuckles, David J says his bandmate Peter Murphy has been in fine form and keeping everyone laughing while on tour. The two former Bauhaus members have teamed up with a full band for an extensive tour to commemorate 40 years of Bauhaus and they’re crushing it everywhere they go. The former Love and Rockets/Bauhaus bassist/singer talks to Alex about how his reunion with Murphy came about, his relationship with former bandmates Daniel Ash and brother Kevin Haskins and why he’ll never retire. He also talks about reading Ian Curtis’ love letters, the sadness of the Beach Boys and his work with the Jazz Butcher Conspiracy. Alex also tells David J that he’s interviewed 3/4 of Bauhaus and now just needs Peter Murphy to complete the Goth Grand Slam… Photo Credit: Judy Lyon

“Walter Lure Is A Punk Who Reads Proust” As a member of The Heartbreakers, Walter Lure may have tenured in one of the most hedonistic, wild and downright feral punk bands of all time, but there was a lot more to this native New Yorker than met the eye. For one, before Lure joined the Heartbreakers he had finished college, graduating from Fordham with an English major and a minor in Chemistry. Lure survived the Heartbreakers and went from being a punk rocker to being a stockbroker. Not a normal punk trajectory, but Lure is a man of great texture and he speaks frankly and honestly to Alex about working on Wall Street, getting off drugs and how a nice college boy found himself in one of the wildest bands on the planet. He also talks about Johnny Thunders, his relationship with Richard Hell and why you shouldn’t trust anything Nick Kent writes. And speaking of writing, the interview ends with a reflection on Proust….

"When Shannon McArdle Was At Her Darkest Point, She Wrote A Children’s Book” Everyone copes with the darkness a different way. For Shannon McArdle, after her divorce to Mendoza Line guitarist Timothy Bracy, she lost her band and her marriage. So she did the only thing she could at such a bleak moment in her life: she wrote a book for kids. But that’s not all she did. Roaring back from the abyss with the stone-cold classic Summer Of The Whore, McArdle announced her solo career in a big way. The follow-up Fear The Dream Of Axes was no less lethal and now her new album A Touch Of Class completes her winning sonic hat trick. In this interview McArdle talks to Alex about unwanted guests, hiking with her sister and why she might ditch it all and move to Ireland. She also talks about the making of A Touch Of Class, teaching high school English and why she thinks she’s a boring person (she’s not).

“Danny O’Reilly Of The Coronas Returns!” We’ve been at it here at Stereo Embers: The Podcast for a little under a year and we’re proud to announce our first return guest. The Coronas’ Danny O’Reilly sat down last year with Alex for a frank discussion about self-doubt and it remains to date the episode we’ve gotten the most letters about. That a high profile musician like O’Reilly was willing to talk about the doubts he had in his creative process was particularly resonant with our audience and many of you wrote to say you go through the very same thing. Now eight months later O’Reilly is back to talk to Alex about his love of the National, paying Lollapalooza and how he spent his summer. He also talks about The Coronas’ new EP, watching the World Cup and why he’s been more creative than ever.

“Jessi Williams Went Through A Ghost Phase” After getting divorced and moving out West with her young daughter, singer/songwriter Jessi Williams found herself going through a ghost phase. Whether she was reading or writing about ghosts, that seemed to be the subject matter she’d landed on for the time being. And Williams’ new EP with her band Coyote is full of those ghosts—they weave in and out of the five songs that comprise the self-titled effort with a mysterious spectral muscle. In these compositions Williams surveys the broken landscapes of our pasts—romance, friendships, and shifting geographies—and she finds that all of them have their own species of ghosts that need to be reckoned with. In this conversation, Williams talks to Alex about motherhood, sleep paralysis and reading Frankenstein. They also discuss her friendship with Nashville singer/songwriter Margo Price, the #Metoo movement and whether it’s easier to be creative early in the morning or late at night.

“Roger Joseph Manning Jr. And I Love Elvis Costello For Different Reasons” Roger Joseph Manning Jr. is one of the great sonic architects in modern music. From his work in Jellyfish to playing in Beck’s band to his own solo material, Manning continually evinces an inherent and complex understanding of music composition. So it’s no surprise that when he listens to Elvis Costello he doesn’t really hear the lyrics—he thinks of them as part of the song’s instrumentation. But for Alex, who’s an author he only hears the lyrics. That said, Roger and Alex talk not only about their love of Costello but how they appreciate him in totally different ways. Manning also talks to Alex about his new EP Glamping, how he marveled at Andy Sturmer’s genius and his tenuous relationship with writing lyrics.

“Jerry Slavonia Doesn’t Light Candles When He Writes Songs” In this interview singer/songwriter Jerry Slavonia, who fronts the L.A. outfit The Honey Cane, tells Alex that his creative process has less to do with nuance like lighting candles and adjusting aesthetic, and more to do with letting the songs flow through him. While Slavonia admits that sometimes that approach requires patience, his band’s debut album Make Wonderful was clearly worth the wait. A cascading eleven song collection, Make Wonderful is an album that’s redolent with rich, rootsy rock, harmonic intelligence and wave-riding jams that roll smoothly into the stratosphere with a spacey sonic shimmer. That said, this album is a modern California classic, fitting perfectly between The Grateful Dead’s Shakedown Street and Counting Crows’ August And Everything After. In this chat, Slavonia talks to Alex about growing up with the Crows’ Dan Vickrey, laboring over the sequencing of Make Wonderful and whether or not he’d play in Des Moines….

“Graham Bonnet Likes Doo-Wop” That’s a fact that might confuse metal fans, but the legendary singer not only talks to Alex about his love of doo-wop, the Beach Boys and Billy Joel, he touches on his departure from Rainbow, his lasting power as a vocalist and his penchant for perfectionism. One of the most enduring, muscular and downright feral singers of all-time, over the course of his long career Graham Bonnet has always prowled the stage with pure metal menace. A slinky red wire of a frontman who has a land-clearing hard rock howl, Bonnet also tells Alex about being a self-taught singer, why he grew up listening to opera and how long its been since he’s spoken to Ritchie Blackmore.

“Tony Kaye Plays The Net Now” Tony Kaye was a baseliner on the tennis court for years, but then he figured out the efficacy of playing the net and he was hooked. Kaye was hooked on music at an early age, starting his formal classical piano training at the tender age of four. When he signed on to be an original member of Yes in 1968, his classical roots were long behind him. He’d been playing jazz for years and after seeing Graham Bond stomp away on the Hammond, Kaye realized that playing rock and roll meant not treating his organ like a piano. In this conversation, Kaye talks to Alex about his relationship to his instrument, what it was like playing clubs in Germany at the same time as The Beatles, and why he admires Geoff Downes so much. Kaye also talks about why he’s chosen isolation, why friendships are hard to maintain in rock and roll and what he thinks of the #Yes50 tour.

“Tony Lewis Is Always On Time” He sure is. The former Outfield frontman tells Alex that he and his bandmate John Spinks were always known for being punctual and he’s continuing that tradition. But, he confesses, away from his musical life, he’s rarely on time ever. In this interview Lewis talks about his new solo album Out Of The Darkness, the death of his musical partner Spinks and the joys of being a grandfather. He also tells Alex what his personal favorite track is on his new album and how he was influenced by Paul McCartney.

“Kari Kimmel Is Everywhere And You Had No Idea” Kari Kimmel’s music has probably been in your head at one point or another and you had no idea it was her. With her music and her voice appearing in almost 1,000 films, television shows and commercials, Kimmel is perhaps one of the most ubiquitous singer/songwriters out there. The only thing is, she could knock on your door and you wouldn’t know who she was. Perhaps the most un-famous famous person in music, Kimmel likes it that way, just fine. And that’s the thing about Kari Kimmel: she knew early on what felt right to her and what didn’t. In this conversation Kimmel talks to Alex about the importance of artistic advocacy, how she got herself out of some sticky record contracts and how vital it was to stick with her guns. She also talks about her new album Gold And Glitter, her love of Michael Jackson and why being so famously not famous suits her just fine.

“James Williamson Doesn’t Need To Do This Anymore” When you’re one of the most respected guitar players on the planet and you’ve already been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and everyone from Johnny Marr to Kurt Cobain has sung your praises, you don’t need to do much anymore. But thankfully, James Williamson is still doing what he does. The Texas-born Williamson talks to Alex about his new band James Williamson and the Pink Hearts, how he approaches his guitar after all these years and whether or not he was one of those guys who used to lock himself in his room and practice all night. Spoiler alert: He was. This episode also finds James and Alex talking about his band's new album Behind The Shade, why Petra Haden and Frank Meyer ended up in The Pink Hearts and how improvisation factored into the Stooges’ sound. Spoiler alert: It did.

"Don’t Remind John Andrew Fredrick About How Obscure The Black Watch Are" …Because he already knows and he’s kind of sick of hearing it. And why wouldn’t he be? After nearly 25 albums and EP’s, Fredrick’s the black watch remain one of the best kept secrets in music and that they are remains a befuddling fact. However, in spite of outlets ranging from USA Today to Trouser Press declaring that the Santa Barbara outfit should be massive, the black watch soldier on under the radar. In this conversation Fredrick talks to Alex about The Jazz Butcher, the artist’s pursuit of perfection and being called the California Cure. Fredrick also talks about his band’s new Paper Boats EP, the black watch’s upcoming album and maintaining the manic pop thrill.