Talk About the Passion

Episode 22: Electric Eye (A Conversation With Steve Karp)

Episode 22 is the longest episode yet, at almost two and a half hours. My guest is Steve Karp, guitar player and founder of the New York Hardcore band Yuppicide. Steve is one of the funniest people I know and is a hell of a story teller. Steve is a perfect guest for this podcast, as you'll hear he is intensely passionate about everthing he talks about here and I was glad he talked about so much in this jam packed episode. Listen to Steve talk about discovering music as a young kid with his friends through his time in Yuppicide. Also, most importantly find out if Steve is a Faith guy or a Void guy!

Episode 21: Values Here (A Conversation With Chris Lordan)

Episode 21 is a conversation with my friend Chris Lordan. I met Chris from the hardcore scene when I was a teenager in the suburbs of Massachusetts. We talk about music for the first part of this interview, we also talk about his job in education as well as the book he wrote called The Factory: A Journey Through the Prison Industrial Complex. As you will hear in this episode, Chris is a well spoken, smart and interesting guy with some great ideas and attitudes, a good amount of them developed from his involvment in the hardcore scene early on. 

Listen to this episode, and then answer a trivia question for a chance to win a free copy of The Factory: A Journey Inside the Prison Industrial Complex. Details on that are in the intro to the episode. 

Episode 20: You Might Ask Me What (A Conversation With Nate Newton)

Episode 20 is a conversation with Nate Newton, most known as the bass player for hardcore band Converge. Nate also is in Doomriders and Old Man Gloom. We talk about all three of those bands as well as how he got to work with Cavalera Conspiracy, and we get a bit into skateboarding which ties the whole episode together. Nate is a down to earth, passionate guy and it was great to have him as a guest. 

Check out the newest (Nov 2017) Converge record The Dusk in Us on Epitaph and Deathwish Records!

Episode 19: All Apologies (A Conversation With Allison Dick)

Episode 19 is a conversation with my friend Allison Dick. Allison is a stand up comedian in the Boston area. We talk about her experiences in that world as well as her time involved in roller derby in Boston. Allison and I briefly thought about doing a podcast together which we talk a little about. Check this episode out and find out where she'll be performing next. 

Episode 18: So Long Ago (A Conversation With Jonah Jenkins)

Episode 18 is a conversation with Jonah Jenkins. Jonah is best known as the vocalist for seminal Boston hardcore/metal band Only Living Witness. We talk about his time in that band as well as other bands he's been involed in like Milligram, Miltown and his current band Rawradarwar. He also talks about a new project he's involved in that sounds great. Although shorter than most episodes this one is full of some great stories, and I finally have someone to talk about the first Boston album with. 

PS the title of this episode is a reference to The Freeze song of the same name!

 

Episode 17: Find The Arise (A Conversation With Buz McGrath)

Episode 17 is a conversation with Buz McGrath, guitarist from the band Unearth. We talk about the origins of that band, some pretty crazy tour stories, as well as the song writing process he uses to write music for Unearth. We go all over the place in this hour long episode.  

Unearth are a metalcore band from Massachusetts who formed in 1998 (Note: I mentioned knowing Buz and Point 04 in "the early 90's", I should have said "late 90's", doh!) They are one of the best live acts around. Buz is an amazing guitar player, and a hilarious guy with some great story telling skills as you'll hear on this episode. 

Episode 16: Georgia On My Mind (A Conversation With Christopher DeBari)

Episode 16 is a conversation with my friend Christopher DeBari. You may know Chris from his time in Today is the Day, recording the epic Sadness Will Prevail record, which he talks about in this episode, as well as how he joined that band. Chris also tells some intense stories about times music and life collided to create some powerful memories and emotions. I had a great time hanging with Chris and hope to have him on again. 

Episode 15: Candy Girl (A Conversation With Angie C. Shaw)

Episode 15 is a conversation with Boston area DJ Angie C Shaw. Angie is a close friend of mine so of course it was a natural conversation. Her lifelong love of music and the enthusiasm to talk about the stuff she loves made her an obvious choice for the podcast. We cover a lot of ground from her early days in radio through the current state of terrestrial radio. Angie is a great story teller and there are some good ones here, including some cool behind the scenes stories with some big name musicians. Angie was on WFNX in the early 90's right as Nirvana broke and into the early 2000's, she now can be heard on the classic rock station WZLX 100.7 FM. Enjoy!

Episode 14: Ace of Spades (A Conversation With Keith Bennett)

Episode 14 is a talk with Keith Bennett. Keith is a veteran of the Boston hardcore and metal scene and has played in multiple bands, most notably Wrecking Crew in the 80's and currently PanzerBastard. Keith talks in length about getting into music as a kid, his stories are intense and hilarious. Keith speaks from his heart and gets into some pretty heavy subject matter at times, and yes there is some salty language on this one. All said, this 90 minute episode is packed with a ton of great stories and I definitely hope I can get him back on for another one. 

Episode 13: Definite Choice (A Conversation With Mark McKay)

Episode 13 is a conversation with my friend Mark McKay, founding member of Slapshot. Mark and I talk about all different types of music from The Clash to Kiss and Dead Can Dance, how Slapshot came to be and their role in hardcore history. We share similar stories of meeting a grumpy Henry Rollins, his love of reading and he talks about some amazng writing endeavors he's involved in right now. This was a great chat, Mark has some great stories and any fan of 80's hardcore will enjoy this episode.