Shows
The New SceneEpisode 301: Allen Epley of Shiner / The Life and TimesAllen Epley returns to the show and we discuss skiing, Line 6 Delay Pedals, the making of Shiner's 2020 LP "Schadenfreude", how the band learned to write together again after 15 years apart, playing 3rd guitar for Sunny Day Real Estate, Shiner's new LP "BELIEVEYOUME", the making of the record, navigating creative differences, Allen's post-Shiner band The Life and Times, his gear setup for the band, Allen's solo record "Everything", his band BirdHands, his podcast Third Gear Scratch and more.
Intro - 0:00 - 4:10
Shiner Interview - 4:11 - 1:15:43
Outro - 1:15:58 - 1:20:52
2025-10-061h 20
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 179 - Aaron StoneAs the frontman, face and heartbeat of his band My Epic, singer/guitarist Aaron Stone started his rock band long before he ever imagined having and wife and now 4 year old child and would never have believed his band would still be making music. in fact they're making music on a killer label, Tooth and Nail Records, with their newest LP Loriella due on June 27th. 2024. But even as he's grown older and now with a family, his bands' trajectory continues to rise as he's split his time between his music and his job--bivocational he calls it. As a k...
2024-06-111h 17
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 178 - Steve LamosU of I in Champaign / Urbana in the 90's was typical of many satelite college towns to big cities with a happening urban center, dive bars and house parties for the indie scene to procreate within. Drummer Steve Lamos' band American Football was one of the bands within that scene that made a record for Polyvinyl Records, played a few shows then broke up -- except the lore and legend of that special debut album grew like crazy for the next 15 years. Reunion tours in 2014 and reissues all sold like wildfire. An appearance on NPR Tiny Desk Concerts puts...
2024-05-141h 19
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 177 - Chris EnriquezSomewhere in the late 00's, drummer Chris Enriquez felt the familiar and invetible societal pull of many artists to finally "get a real job" after over a decade with his bands On The Might Of Princes, Long Island hardcore/emo heros, and Gracer after Princes disbanded. He left it behind and began working as a brand rep for PBR at a time when that brand was making a major push to become indie-rocks beer of choice, which largely came to pass. But much was missing from his life at this time and he held that tide back with alcohol a...
2024-04-231h 14
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 176 - Conan NeutronThere was a point maybe 10 years ago give or take, in which bandleader, frontman, guitarist, singer songwriter, podcaster and outsized personality Conan Neutron had a reckoning or awakening of sorts in regards to his bands and the dynamic within, which had taken a not-good turn. The Conan Neutron of today reflects on those regrets and missed opportunities and how he turned that into his successful podcast Conan Neutrons Protonic Reversal and his band since that fateful about face, Conan Neutron and His Secret Friends with Dale Crover (Melvins) on the kit and Tony Ashe (Trophy Wives/Coliseum) on the...
2024-04-021h 27
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 175 - AC PaterraDeep into the pandemic, drummer AC Paterra and his musical partner in Zombi, bassist-keyboardist Steve Moore also went deep; deep into the sounds and songs that created who they have become today as a pillar of Relapse Records, a label often associated with noisy artists. However the songs that moved AC and Steve over these covid days were the yachti-rock based sounds of Gerry Rafferty, Paul Davis, Steely Dan and Barry Gibb. So faithful were these renditions that many assumed they were singing over the original tracks. This attention to detail doesn't escape their own original music they make...
2024-03-121h 22
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 174 - Tristan ShonePutting a band together for a younger Tristan Shone 20 years ago was not as easy as he thought it might be, so he used his knowledge of mechanical engineering and sense of tenacious autonomy to create his own instruments that would allow him to make live music on his own; Music without the use of traditional instruments like guitars and drums and backingtracks a single musician might use to fill out the sound. Nope. Tristan and his fellow engineers created a few different unique tactile tools that he could oscillate in a live setting for different sounds, explosions and...
2024-02-271h 20
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 173 - Tim Kasher - Live at Fitzgerald'sSinger/songwriter/frontman Tim Kasher has been such a prolic maker of music over the past 25+ years with his bands Cursive and The Good Life and his solo records as his vehicles and conduits of creativity, so busy in fact that he has released a new album almost every year since 2000. Tim traveled from Los Angles to Chicago on Wednesday January 31st 2024 to spill about all of the "hows, why's and what in the world are we doing here" questions in front of great and responsive crowd at historic Fitzgeralds Nightclub in forever sunny Berwyn, just south of Chicago...
2024-02-131h 11
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 172 - Jordan Zadorozny Pt DeuxMulti-instrumentalist/producer/mixer Jordan Zadorozny created his one man band Blinker the Star in the mid 90's and made a huge splash with his 2nd album August Everywhere with Ken Andrews (Failure) behind the mixer. 28 years and 12 full length albums later JZ has released Animal Math (self-released), a highly enjoyable, forward-leaning and ambitious record that has hints of Jeff Lynne, Rush and a new wave type vibe that is unexpected and yet fits perfectly. Jordan is a producer and mixer with his own studio in rural Canada called Skylark Studios and gives him a literal playground to make his m...
2024-01-231h 19
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 171 - Jay RyanArtist and musician Jay Ryan remembers the moment that he began to create the animal-based characters that inhabit his hand-printed concert and event posters that have become ubiquitous in the rock world; he was just out of college at U of I in Champaign and was bogging down and unable to finish a painting because of undiagnosed ADHD, so he began to draw his living room automan, over and over from different angles. At a certain point he just added a pair of wide-set eyes that instantly imbued the automan with life for him. Since then, in his shop...
2024-01-091h 32
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 170 - AE Holiday Wrap-Up Of 2023!!Episode 170 of Third Gear Scratch, in which our hero, Alien Epilepsy waxes and wanes about this year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Twenty Three. It's been a year of triumphs and struggles which has seen AE release his first and only solo record 'Everything' (Spartan) and tour on it, create a new record with his band Shiner, their 6th, tour with his friend Ian Prince and their band Birdhands with amazing bands Russian Circles, Spotlights, Jawbox and Pelican. But it was in the mother of all coup attempts that saw AE join Sunny Day Real Estate onstage in t...
2023-12-1925 min
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 169 - Eugene S RobinsonBeing a body-builder and MMA fighter, Eugene S Robinson was a bit of an anomoly as the charismatic front man for the band he founded OXBOW, and before that in Whipping Boy, a more traditional punk rock outfit in the early 80's. It's in his new book, A Walk Across Dirty Waters and Straight Into Murderer's Row: A Memoir (Feral House) that we learn how he navigated these sometimes murky waters with braun and confrontation, a style he had had time to perfect as a black man in the world of punk rock. He's a direct and brash writer...
2023-11-291h 01
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 168 - Rob ZabreckyIn 1993, Rob Zabrecky was certain he'd seen his future and that future was as a rockstar and frontman for local LA rockers Possum Dixon, his band that had just been signed to Interscope Records for a 3 record deal. But life is complicated. Indeed they had, by all accounts, a pretty great career as an "alternative" band with big tours and big producers like Rik Ocasek of The Cars. But like many other rock stars he fell prey to drugs and all the other issues that can derail a career. So he pivoted, as one does, to auctioneering, a fascinating...
2023-11-071h 31
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 167 - Greg Suran Revisited (orig Aug 9, 2019)This is a pre-pandemic revisit to a previous episode from Aug 9, 2019 in which touring and session guitarist Greg Suran visited the TGS studios to talk about his globe-trotting experiences playing in his own Chicago-based band Cupcakes and BlueManGroup before joining The B-52's in which he still enjoys frequent gigs. He later joined Sunny Day Real Estate for their last two studio albums and subesequent tours, and has worked since that time steadily as a session player with the likes of Joe Walsh and Don Felder of the Eagles. He later was asked to join the house band on t...
2023-10-241h 45
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 166 - Tony HigbeeThe 18 year old version of a now grown Tony Higbee would surely be pinching himself for who he shares stages with these days. As a highschool rocker from tiny Monmouth IL, he was a bass player and had evolved into a serviceable chording guitarist in college. It wasn't until he began writing songs in Atlanta with his band Simple Sick Device in the early 2000's that he began to play guitar with more authority mainly because writing songs on guitar was so much more fluid, and that translated into becoming a real guitar powerhouse. He moved to Nashville and...
2023-10-101h 35
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 165 - Jeffrey BabkoWhen this episode was recorded, the writers and actors strikes were both still going strong with no end in sight, so resident keyboardist for the Jimmy Kimmell Show, Jeff Babko, was able to find time in his normally very busy schedule to rap with me. In fact, the Kimmell show is just a piece of his crowded schedule, which includes being the touring pianist on stage with Steve Martin and Martin Short, in addition to composing for movie scores like the new Weird Al biopic, Toy Story 4, Encanto, but also recording with James Taylor, Jason Mraz, Shelby Lynne, Simon P...
2023-09-261h 35
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 164 - Ryan PattersonWhen heavier-than-anything Louisville band Coliseum began to sense their time together was coming to a close around 2015, band leader and seed-writer Ryan Patterson started to get some glimpses of his next move but was struggling to find his voice within that sylistic change. It was a move from guitar-bass-drums based pummeling into synth-synth-bass-drummachine based songs that were much more mid 80's Dark Wave than Coliseum's post hardcore earth-rattling. Turns out he found his voice in what would become Fotocrime with the help of producer J Robbins (who also produced several Coliseum records) and since 2017 has released a growing catalog...
2023-09-121h 27
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 163 - Salvation's Jason Sipe and Victor RileyJason Sipe and Victor Riley of Chicago's own Salvation make a particularly powerful and vicious form of music that many might assume descends from grunge music of the 90's. On the surface perhaps, but this mighty trio, with the help of Mr Mike Lust, a prodigious producer (Urge Overkill, William Elliot Whitmore, everybody in Chicago) and two-time TGS guest has created a moving testament to laying it all out and flinging the resulting blood on the wall. MOCK (Reptillian), their 4th record and first with Reptillian conjures images of bands like Cows, The Jesus Lizard, Unsane, and yeah some v...
2023-08-291h 07
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 162 - Ryan RaddatzWriter / actor Ryan Raddatz has spent the last 20 years in LA carving out a career in TV and film, first briefly as an actor, before realizing that writing was his true calling. He spent years writing on show for CBS like the recent reboot of The Odd Couple and The Neighborhood with Cedric The Entertainer and dozens more that may or may not ever get made, and has written over 5 seasons of episodes for PBS WordGirl. He's had a great career that has allowed him to raise a family in LA and live at a reasonable middle-class existence. But...
2023-08-151h 35
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 161 - Niko WennerGuitarist and multi-instrumentalist Niko Wenner has been seeing life through a very different lens since the pre and post pandemic years brought him loss and big gains; his father died and went through a job change and saw some very tough times. But it also brought him a newborn child, his daughter, now almost 3 and has changed how he sees the world and makes music with his long time cohort OXBOW, who have a new record Love's Holiday (Ipecac Recordings). It's a record that is surprisingly straightforward, especially for a band that has been in the middle of the ve...
2023-08-011h 24
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 160 - Jason GagovskiIn it's infancy, drummer Jason Gagovski's band Sweet Cobra, was always a 4 piece unit; a giant, crushing, throbbing and roaring missive of urgent importance. The move from 4 to 3 piece however was not their decision, as Matt Arluck had cancer that ultimately took his life, leaving them at a loss for a moment until deciding to move forward as a trio. Sweet Cobra's sound has historically been a highly evolved echo of the giants that came before them. And they are still are that, albeit one that has grown it's sound exponentially on their new record Threes (Hawthorne St), where...
2023-07-181h 29
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 159 - Laurent Schroeder-LebecLaurent Schroeder-Lebec's love of heavy, ground-breaking, earth-shaking music is well established by his band Pelican and their diverse discography over the past 20 years. But somewhere around 2012 LSL began to feel the tug of a different calling; starting a family and supporting that family to the best of his ability, and that included becoming beverage director for Big Star here in Chicago. Certainly Pelican had been experiencing success and was making money as a professional band, one that tours 8 months of the year and can sustain itself when not on the road. But raising a family is a different beast...
2023-07-061h 18
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 158 - Jim HankeWhen Vinyl Emergency podcaster Jim Hanke was in school at UW Milwaukee with a double major in Communications and Journalism, he probably never dreamed that one of his future endeavors would be an answer to a question on the famous game show Jeopary. But that's what happened with Biscuits and Jam, a podcast he was producing for Southern Living Magazine. He spent a couple of crucial years there and helped to transform that show into a Jeopardy-answer-sized-pod, but only after producing his own beloved pod called Vinyl Emergency. This podcast has been a labor of love over the past 5 y...
2023-06-201h 08
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 157 - Travis TalbertTravis Talbert has made the music biz his living, or maybe it's the music that made him do it. He's a touring and session pedal steel player and guitarist for other touring artists like Arlo McKinley but has also busied himself with his band Frontier Folk Nebraska and now more recently with his solo music as Mavis Guitar. He's been releasing music under that moniker for some time now but his most recent offering, Tony Delks' 53 Point Game (self-released) is an expansive and eclectic mix but still stands as cohesive and focused. It's music that uses traditional instruments phrasings...
2023-06-061h 13
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 156 - Chris NevilleChris Neville is a busy man; As the core member and founder of Tributosaurus, a collection of session killers from Chicago that regularly honor a certain artist or band with sold-out highly perfected tribute concerts featuring almost granular details of that artists recordings (i.e. 6 people to play a proper Rush concert), as a composer for a huge gaming platform called Everi Holdings, as a longtime venue owner whose club fell victim to the pandemic, and as a weekly performer in various ensembles including but not limited to his newest band of assassins, The Meadowlark Lemons. Chris has remained hu...
2023-05-231h 02
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 155 - Tim RutiliTim Rutili is not only from the influential and highly regarded art folk skronk rock band Califone, he in fact is that band. Certainly not to say he's not the only person who makes Califone Califone, indeed that band is more like a collective, often made of 15 humans or more for any given record, and it continues to involve many of the same talented humans he's been making music with for the past 30 years including his time as the main maker in 90's SubPop heros Red Red Meat. So it goes with Califone's new offering, Villagers (Jealous Butcher) due M...
2023-05-151h 14
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 154 - Gabe LarsonGabe Larson was actually closer to his maternal grandfather than his paternal grandfather, Waldemar or Wally, the one he named his band after and most likely the man from whom he inherited a bit of his sadness and ennui. And it's this general bout with depression that plays a central role on his new album called Ruthless (Self-Released), an expansve and intimately beautiful record that has taken most of 5 years to create. In that time, Gabe and his brother Nick carefully rebuilt a 130 year old barn on his Eau Claire WI property, outfitted it with studio gear, and then...
2023-04-171h 16
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 153 - Jerry A LangThe idea to rerelease a remixed version of The Badge, a notoriously anti-cop song, from Jerry A Lang's highly influential punkrock band Poison Idea's 3rd album Feel The Darkness (Vinyl Solutions/American Leather) was not exactly his. In this chat it becomes clear how a current Portland police officer approached him and the idea was hatched. In the mid 80's Jerry A (as he was known) had made his mind up to live his life as he saw fit--make punkrock, tour punkrock, drink, drug, heavy drug, rinse and repeat--until the mid 00's at which point members began to die...
2023-04-101h 07
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 152 - Sarah and Mario QuinteroBoth Sarah and Mario Quintero of the post-everything band Spotlights have been guests on TGS previously, but never at the same time. It is clear that regardless of the music that they make together, beautifully crushing songs that push sonic boundaries with every release, these two are best friends and would be together even without this music. They're deeply in love and have a connection to being the best fucking band they can be and are proving it with every new release. Their newest, Alchemy For The Dead (IPECAC) is another perfect cog on Spotlights gear but sees them gr...
2023-03-281h 10
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 151 - Santi GarciaProducer Santi Garcia was just 12 years old when he approached the radio station in his town with an idea: his own radio show playing new music he loved. His exuberance and love of music led him to recording bands who came to him wanting to be recorded. He borrowed the only 4 track recorder in the small town north of Barcelona called St Feliu De Guixols and began plying the trade which would make his name and put bread on the table for his family to this day. Santi has expanded his successful studio, Ultramarinos Costa Brava, by including his...
2023-03-201h 19
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 150 - Pete StahlDC punk icon Pete Stahl and his guitarist brother Franz were heavily influenced by their father who was in the biz in the 60's as a band manager. Pete has ridden his simple and profound love of music through a long life of traveling the globe not only as a musician with his band. the godfathers of the DC Dischord scene, Scream (featuring former member Dave Grohl), but also with Wool, Goatsnake and many others, but also as a tour manager for Rival Sons and Coheed and Cambria. It's a life that is as thrilling as it is exhausting...
2023-03-131h 28
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 149 - Rhonda LyneAs Executive Director of the Midwest Music Foundation, Rhonda Lyne sees it as her duty to see through the vision of her friend and musician Abigail Henderson, a talented singer/songwriter with her band The Gaslights in the mid 00's. Abigail was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and a benefit called Apocalypse Meow gave her and her husband Chris Mecke a platform on which to create the MMF. Abigail passed in 2013 and Rhonda as taken it upon herself to see the vision through and has not only done that but has created a team and board of professionals to create...
2023-02-1351 min
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 148 - Stephan HawkesWhen Stephan Hawkes was but a teenager, he and his band at the time called Tibanna, made their first recording with Paul Malinowski of Shiner in the midwest, far away from his hometown of Portland OR. That band ran its course as bands do, but Stephan caught the bug for recording and fell in love with every part of the process. Not only is he a gifted guitarist and drummer as exhibited in his longtime band called Shelter Red, which released their 5th full-length album in 2021, Beast of the Field, he turned out to be a prodigious recording engineer...
2023-01-301h 35
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 147 - Taylor DupuisSinger/actor Taylor Dupuis has had the same dream as many of us dreamers of living a busy and successful artistic life and she's definitely been living that nocturnal event out to a T. Her band Roanoke which she started with her then boyfriend Joe Beesley has just released their new EP called Wolf Motel (Kill Rock Stars) and it is a shining example of the professionalism and attention to detail typical of her career thus far. The indie film Lost Heart is one of the standouts of her acting career as she continues to fine tune her chops...
2023-01-2352 min
The LIFERS Podcast101. LIFERS - Allen EpleyWhen word got out that Allen Epley from Shiner and The Life And Times was moving to Chicago, folks were pretty happy about it. Not surprising. You know when people use that phrase “he’s a solid dude”? They’re usually talking about Allen. On this episode, Mr. Epley takes time out from hosting his own podcast —the excellent Third Gear Scratch— to talk to us about his excellent new solo album (called EVERYTHING), his excellent gig with Blue Man Group, the excellent Kansas City rock scene, opening for Shooting Star (excellent!), Chapman Sticks (excellent?), and Broasis — his excellent Oasis cover band. On...
2023-01-201h 27
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 146 - Alan CageAfter more than 15 years of drumming for Quicksand, Seaweed, Burn and before--and after that, Beyond, with a fair amount of storm and stress in the Quicksand years in particular, Alan Cage wanted to prove to himself that he could master something else in his life, completely unrelated to anything musical, and he did. For 10 years he had a successful career as a labor organizer and besides a couple of one-off gigs for other bands, had almost zero connection to his former life. Quicksand had put aside the blood and guts to release their first studio record in almsot 20 years...
2023-01-161h 42
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 145 - AE Reflects On The Last and New YearBig A is back from an end of year hiatus and takes Episode 145 of TGS to reflect on the year that was 2022 and some positive thoughts on the year ahead, 2023. Last year was tough for many people for many different reasons but we're all hoping for a fresh start moving forward, beginning with the release of AE's first and only solo record called 'Everything' due out on Spartan Records on Jan 6th 2023 with a big release show at the Empty Bottle in Chicago the same day. There are always many irons in the fire for our hero and this...
2023-01-0224 min
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 144 - Kendall WindGrowing up in upstate New York, young Kendall Wind took piano lessons before migrating to bass guitar and leaning into The Rock Academy founded by School of Rock's Paul Greene. Her piano knowledge would later inform her bass and guitar playing in the band she put together at Rock Academy with singer Sam Quartin called The Bobby Lees, now on it's 3rd LP Bellevue out now on Mike Patton's Ipecac Records. She's working with Jon Spencer regularly now who also produced the bands 2nd record before working with Vance Powell on Bellevue. It's been a whiplash ride for Kendall a...
2022-11-1457 min
The New SceneEpisode 148: Allen Epley of Shiner / The Life and TimesKeith sits down with Allen Epley to discuss the history of Shiner, the recording of some of their classic LP's, life on the road, the initial end of the band, the beginning of The Life and Times, Shiner's initial reunion and their latest LP "Schadenfreude", what's next for both bands, Allen's podcast "Third Gear Scratch", performing with the Blue Man Group and more.
Guest co-hosts: Josh Brigham and Adam Morgan of Hopesfall. Josh and Adam discuss the influence Shiner has had on Hopesfall, how reading the liner notes of "The Egg" led them to record "The Satellite...
2022-11-071h 55
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 143 - Van WilksAustin TX has evolved for better and worse over the past 50 years and Texas blues guitar rock legend Van Wilks has been witness to and in the middle of all of it. In fact the city named November 6th Honorary Van Wilks Day in 1997. Van gets much love from guitar wizards like Eric Johnson and Billy Gibbons, and songwriting masters like Christopher Cross, each of whom were featured on Van's last record 21st Century Blues. Billy and Van have been old school road dogs for many moons and he's written several songs for ZZ Top over the years. But...
2022-11-071h 13
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 142 - JarboeRight after Jarboe had migrated from the Deep South to New York in the early 80's, she saw Michael Gira and Swans perform and knew that was her destiny. Swans impact today is felt in bands like FACS, Godflesh, Neurosis, Isis and Napalm Death with Jarboe and Michael as the figure heads of Swans. Jarboe's career is 33 albums deep between solo work/collabs/Swans, and now is reissuing one of her most enduring and celebrated solo albums Sacrificial Cake (The Circle Group) from 1985 and is also heading out on tour to Europe for her first shows since the pandemic sh...
2022-10-311h 05
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 141 - John LombardoMany musicians, waiting for their new record to be pressed, have mused to themselves about starting a vinyl manufacturing business, but John Lombardo actually put a real plan together with 3 other friends to create Smashed Plastic here in Chicago. John pieced together this coalition from his life and times within the music business as a record store guy, a tour manager, and with his own bands in the Cleveland music scene and it has seen unbelievable success despite the slow downs in manufacturing since the pandemic because of supply chain issues among others. Smashed Plastic set out to create...
2022-10-2455 min
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 140 - Ben JorgensonWhen Ben Jorgenson began to write a new record for his band Armor For Sleep, their first new music in over 10 years, his mind began to conjure a dystopian world, a post apocalyptic Earth with a museum that held pieces of the old world to remind us all of the past. It also happened that he was working through and dealing with a difficult divorce, and those troubles inevitably found their way into the narrative as he dovetailed them into a piece of music he called The Rain Museum. It's a dark and beautiful peice of work that is e...
2022-10-1759 min
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 139 - Sarah ShookThe pandemic takes its toll on everyone in different ways and Sarah Shook is not unique in that it yielded a new record, but this music was a new sort of fruit from a fresh vine. Sarah's delivery and metrics have up to now hewed to an 'outlaw country' quilt but these songs stood out from their work with Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. They leaned towards pop, yes, but a spartan and economized version of smart indie rock with melodies that also dovetail their country roots. The result is a new band Mightmare and the accompanying debut album Cruel...
2022-09-2752 min
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 138 - Patrick Fabian RevisitedAE goes back in the vault for a loving reexamination of his conversation on with actor Patrick Fabian (Ep. 37) of Better Call Saul as the high powered attorney Howard Hamlin. We talk about his time and tenure on BCS as that iconic series has just wrapped its final season, in which Patrick's character is central. There's even more poignancy and relevance in the rearview context of the Covid pandemic looming just after this conversation. Patrick is a rigorously prepared for every audition and for when he walks on the set. He has relentless drive and is relentless about staying ahe...
2022-09-121h 14
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 137 - Zach BarocasWhen drummer Zach Barocas began to play with his legendary band Jawbox again in late 2017 to rehearse for some reunion shows, he wasn't sure exactly how that might play out given they hadn't been in the same room together for about 20 years. Turns out, it went so well they're still playing shows now and in fact will be playing Riot Fest in September 2022. Zach has been creatively busy with his bands The Up On In, The Bells, and now New Freedom Sounds with some guys like J Robbins, Gordon Withers and Tom Cisneros that makes music that is related...
2022-08-291h 34
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 136 - AE REFLECTS (ON BIRTHDAYS AND COLLEGE-BOUND KIDS)Our handsome host Allen Epley goes guestless for this episode to take time to reflect and wax on the state of his state of mind. It is the eve of his 54th birthday and the week before his twins fly the coop for college and leave their parents alone at home at once, both elated and broken; free at last or utterly rudderless. Raising kids is a dangerous business; to love someone so much with the knowledge that if all goes right, they will leave you in 18 or so years and break your heart. Turning 54 is an achievement also...
2022-08-2236 min
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 135 - Ian PrinceDrummer Ian Prince couldn't have predicted that at this time in his life he'd be making music again with the same two men who he really needed time away from in 2004 when Houston had been on the road for long stretches. After Houston's implosion, he formed Story of the Sea with his brother Adam Prince to make several albums of high level song craftsmanship, he played with Minneapolis' Porcupine, Soul Asylum and famously also BirdHands. But it's Houston that made such a profound impact on their fans with their brand of post pre indie prog shoe staring. Not only...
2022-08-1554 min
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 134 - Terence HannumTerrance Hannum, synth-ist and keyboardist in his darkly beautiful drone-core band Locrian, doesn't set out everyday to be the most creative human on earth, but more often than not, something does indeed get made. Between his job as a professor of 3D Printing and digital fabrication and his life in Locrian, he also manages to write award-winning fiction, pulls haunting images out of his soul for his oil paintings and sculptures of dead flowers, and uses cassette tape to powerful effect of structured minimalism. Locrian has a new record called New Catastrphisms out August 12th (Profound Lore) produced and...
2022-08-081h 25
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 133 - Stephan HowardStephan "The Kid" Howard was christened thusly by the old blues players he first began gigging with as a bassist when he was only 13 years old in Chicago, and introduced him to a universe of music and travel that changed his life in every way. His time as both drummer and baritone guitarist in the influential Chicago band Pinebender in the 90's put him in contact with musicians that continue to alter his trajectory to this day. The Kid has had his hands in so much timeless music with folks like William Elliot Whitmore, Mike Lust, James McCartney, Keely...
2022-07-251h 20
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 132 - Joe SibComic Joe Sib is that rare human who takes new endeavors that might normally intimidate the rest of us as a challenge. His punk-rock band Wax struck gold in the early 90's with a hit song California and a video directed by Spike Jonze known as the burning guy running in slow-mo video, then parlayed the success from that band into starting Side One Dummy Records, a label responsible for bands like Flogging Molly, Gogol Bordello and Gaslight Anthem among many others. Later, after the success of touring on his one-man show "Joe Sib: California Calling" he mounted the...
2022-07-181h 19
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 131 - Clayton BrownDocumentary filmmaker and my old homie Clayton Brown revisits the TGS confines for the 2nd time to chat about his new film in which he details the work of Doug Pagitt, an activist and progressive evangelical pastor who has been protesting current immigration policies by riding his bike along the US Border from San Diego to St Augustine. For this film, Clayton has teamed with his wife Kim Sullivan as co-director and their collab has been thrilling and fruitful. Clayton and I also detail our time together making music in our college band The Industry which begat Orchid which...
2022-06-271h 07
My First Band Podcast173 – Allen Epley (Shiner, The Life and Times)Midwestern rock and roll fans rejoice because this week's guest is the great Allen Epley. You likely know Epley as the vocalist and guitarist of Shiner and The Life And Times, as the host of the Third Gear Scratch podcast, and as a member of BirdHands and the backing band of the Chicago Blue Man Group. He's up to a lot at the moment, including a Shiner tour (and the upcoming vinyl re-release of the band's entire catalog via Spartan Records) and writing a new The Life And Times record. Between the busy modern happenings and his...
2022-06-241h 37
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 130 - Peter MoffettPete Moffett has been working in the music industry as a drummer in the late 80's with bands like punkrock-forefathers Government Issue and also some guy named J Robbins, in the early 90's with Wool and Franz and Pete Stahl, and then again with J Robbins in the late 90's with Burning Airlines which rose mightily from the ashes of Jawbox. But his longest tenure has been that of touring drum technician for artists like Alanis Morrisette and Kelly Clarkson, and when this interview took place he was in Europe with Whitesnake and the Scorpions as he's tech'ing for...
2022-06-201h 09
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 129 - Trevor Shelley de BrauwTrevor Shelley de Brauw took 26 months to get Covid and waited even longer to release his new RLYR record (Gilead Media), the Pelican guitarists side project and secret hook up. The new self-titled record, their 3rd, is an orchestrated love letter to guitar rock riffs, post hardcore surges and ambient waves. Pelican is also busy as they face a Euro tour starting late May in support of the reissues of their first three records with rarities included on Thrill Jockey, and now welcome home original guitarist Laurent LeBec after a long successful tenure with Dallas Thomas of Swan King.
2022-05-161h 22
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 128 - Martin BisiMartin Bisi has owned BC Studios since 1980 when he started it with Brian Eno and Bill Laswell and has been witness to it's growth from gritty avante-garde hub of the No-Wave scene in which he was foundational, working with Lydia Lunch, Swans, Foetus and Sonic Youth into a largely gentrified but still arts-centric village. He's a pioneer for his work with early hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa and his solo work is as ambitious and free as his no-rules production style with a large catalog under his wings. His newest work is with the band NEONNOONE and is...
2022-05-091h 40
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 127 - Evan PattersonThe pandemic offered Evan Patterson an opportunity he hadn't had in years; to take some time off from touring with his earth-shaking band Young Widows, his solo outfit Jaye Jayle and with his ex-wife's band Emma Ruth Rundle after he played 210 dates in 2019. The breather has given him perspective on making music and why he does it. It also gave him time to refine his artistic and screen printing skills again, and a chance to try his hand at carpentry, which turns out he's also got game at. With new music from Young Widows currently percolating, Evan is optimistic and...
2022-05-031h 17
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 126 - Michelle BaconBassist/Drummer/Journalist Michelle Bacon found her calling late in the game to start playing in bands (Frogpond/Other Americans/Katie Guillen and the Drive) and also have her finger on the pulse of the Kansas City music scene as Content Creator and Data Manager at 90.9 The Bridge. She has witnessed and participated in the growth of the talent pool in KC and has been able to assist the evolution of the scene at the Bridge. But when she founded The Band That Fell To Earth, a collective of musicians from the KC over the past 30 years who unite...
2022-04-181h 07
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 125 - Scott McCloudThe rock and roll Scott McCloud grew up with in the 80's was a fantasy of glitz and glam far beyond the most ambitious of his dreams, until he heard punk rock in DC, and it all seemed very possible. Inevitable, even. His bands Soulside in DC and then Girls Against Boys out of NY were both highly influential heavy-weights. Between those bands, New Wet Kojak and Paramount Styles, this man has made over 20 full lenth records, influenced thousands, lived all over the world, with his stylishly tortured vocal delivery being his most enduring trademark. Now living in Vienna...
2022-04-041h 34
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 124 - Dr Debra LynnWhen Conductor/Composer/Educator Debra Lynn cold-called Stewart Copeland's management about helping him stage a collegiate production of his opera, The Invention of Morel, she wasn't holding her breath. And yet, as fate would have it, they were working together not long after to stage it and have since collaborated on Police Symphonic arrangements and other projects, they remain tight with she as his "mentor" he says. We talk about the overlap in writing processes despite different worlds of music, the elements are about throwing paint on the canvas without forethought, and how her synesthesia allows her to see...
2022-03-281h 36
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 123 - Shiner Tour ReflectionsIn this episode, Allen talks with each member of Shiner individually to get their own thoughts, reflections and obsevations of the most recent US Shiner tours. Bassist Paul Malinowski goes first from his Massive Sound Studio in KCK with sharp insights on touring without a sound man. Drummer Jason Gerken entertains as he's just arrived at Rancho de la Luna Studio to track with Chris Shinn, and guitarist Josh Newton pipes in from his home in LA on what it's like to have Mario Quintero as his proxy for some of the tour.
2022-03-211h 14
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 122 - Mario QuinteroGuitarist/Drummist/Producist/Engineerist and now Managist Mario Quintero of Spotlights revisits the hallowed halls of TGS for an encore episode in which we prep for the Shiner / Spotlights tour as he spills all about his tenure as the proxy Josh Newton, we talk about his new project with Jason Blackmore called Sisters, his joint venture with Spotlights drummer Chris Enriquez as managers of several rising bands, what the future holds for Spotlights and why he prefers dogs to cats, but admittedly loves the taste of both...great chat!
2022-03-0151 min
MAGNET Magazine PodcastMAGNET Television Podcast Episode 18: Q&A With Allen Epley (Shiner)In this episode, we interview Allen Epley (Shiner). Sure, Shiner's "new" reunion album came out back in 2020, but as you might've noticed, there's been too much of not enough in the world since then. Thus, the Kansas City post-punk legends are only getting around to touring in support of the LP now. Catch an older, wiser Shiner on the East Coast and in the Midwest in March. In this podcast, Allen talks about the albums, songs and concerts that changed his life and inspired him to make music.
2022-02-2114 min
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 121 - Craig WedrenRight before Craig Wedren's influential DC band Shudder To Think broke up in 1999 and sent him into a momentary career freefall, they had scored several films including Velvet Goldmine. Five years earlier, Shudder had their claim with a record called The Pony Express Record for Epic that was as polarizing as it was genre-twisting; artsy, prog leaning, angular and sexy rock songs set within complex arrangements; this work translated perfectly into his post-Shudder life and work as composer for movies like School Of Rock, Wet Hot American Summer, Laurel Canyon, Shrill, Glow and now the excellent YellowJackets, streaming now...
2022-02-211h 31
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 120 - Sanford ParkerIt was the Chicago Wax Trax sound and roster that helped lure producer/musician Sanford Parker from the Florida Panhandle but it was his unique production style that made his name for him, starting with an EP for an unknown band called Pelican in 2003. The word was out and his influence and production schedule has only grown since then with bands like FACS, EyeHateGod, YOB, Voivod and so many others in addition to his own bands Buried At Sea, Minsk, The High Confessions. Yet after hearing his story you still understand his love and affection for classic country music.
2022-02-141h 23
Third Gear ScratchEpisode 119 - Mike SchultePodcaster/Drummer Mike Schulte had no clue his career as drummer in DopeWalker with William Elliott Whitmore and in Pork Tornadoes, by far Iowa's biggest cover band attraction and his career as avid movie watcher throughout his life would translate into his most successful venture--The Confused Breakfast podcast, where three normal dudes dissect the movies of our lives. The Pork Tornadoes describe themselves as Beard Pop as they do mashed up versions of Beyonce hits to small arenas around IA, and Confused Breakfast has shot to the top of the most listened-to pods, and his day gig as real-estate tycoon...
2022-02-071h 25
Third Gear ScratchCheli Clayton SamarasCheli Clayton Samaras is a high school buddy of mine and has spent the past 25 years working behind the camera on the biggest movies of our lives, (think Spider Man, Team America etc) as First Assistant Camera A. She spills the goods on her journey, from Louisville to LA and we talk about women behind the camera, run-ins with handsy blow hard directors, unsafe working conditions, 14 hour days, why the IATSE is so important at this juncture right after the Rust tragedy, and why life is so good for her after all her long hours at UPS.
2022-01-171h 34
Third Gear ScratchGreg ObisGreg Obis spends his days as part of the elite team at Chicago Mastering Services with Bob Weston (Shellac), his nights making angular new prog punk with his band STUCK, his dawns and dusks running his label Born Yesterday releasing music from some of Chicago's elite new crew like Cafe Racer and Mesh. The gig at CMS mastering records for a living is a dream job he doesn't take for granted, allowing him time to be creative with STUCK and diversify his output with his record label. It's a win/win/win sitch.
2022-01-101h 31
Third Gear ScratchDave ElitchFor drummer Dave Elitch, teaching the art of drumming isn't a day-job he holds until he can just float off his royalties from playing with artists like Justin Timberlake, The Mars Volta, Miley Cyrus, and M83 among many others, it's actually THE gig while playing with superstars is an added bonus. Dave has found a niche within the drum-educator sphere as one who can instantly "read" a drummer within 5 minutes and open new worlds for new players and vet drummers like Greg Bissonette, Jason McGerr (Death Cab) Ben Barter (Lorde), and even comic Bill Burr. His instructional series Getting...
2022-01-031h 41
Third Gear ScratchHoliday Thoughts and Shiner Tour ReportThis guest-less version of TGS provides a wrap-up of the most recent Shiner tour and what a hero Mario Quintero of Spotlights was for literally saving the tour, COVID wrecking shop on our desperate existences, my Pitbull Katie Epley's recent surgeries and why she's our hero, why the vaccines are so important even now as we learn their limitations and capabilities, and the valuable currency in our lives known as "greeting strangers with a real smile". It's effectiveness is immediate and powerful. Try the experiment. Happy Holidays to the TGS Faithful. See ya's next year!!
2021-12-2023 min
Third Gear ScratchJim SupticJim Suptic and his band The Get Up Kids were too young to play clubs in the 90's KCMO scene, so they went on tour and played houses and all-ages shows across the world, and quickly became place-holders in the Emo Icons category, on tour with and inspiring a litany of bands like Blink 182. Now Jim is part of a non-profit called the Steps of Faith Foundation that raises funds for prosthetics for recent amputees, and their signature event for the past 5 years is called Thundergong at the Uptown Theater in KC, starring KC native Jason Sudeikis (SNL/Ted Lasso...
2021-11-291h 22
Third Gear ScratchHenry OwingsThe mind of Chunklet Magazine creator Henry Owings is a many tentacled beast, unable to be sated with just one calling or defined by one title. Archivist, author, designer, show promoter, comedian, producer, tour manager; he's lived, curated, celebrated and skewered, chronicled and helped to establish the Athens/ATL region as the bastion of heavy-duty indie rock history it is. His new book PLUS 1 : ATHENS Show Flyers From a Legendary Scene 1967-2002 puts his multiple talents on display and continues his reign as a fount of energy and infotainment.
2021-11-221h 19
Third Gear ScratchRoss HurtWhen Rigs Of Dad started in IG, musician Ross Hurt had no idea he would have 85k followers in a scant few years. He's parlayed that into the excellent R.O.D. podcast and continues his musical journey started with his band Black Clouds in DC into his current project Burial Waves and their new EP Holy Ground (Dark Operative). It's a sea change in sound for him and Matt Dowling (Deleted Scenes), Jimmy Rhodes (Black Clouds), Kyle Durfey (Pianos Become The Teeth) and Kevin Hilliard (Caverns) as they cast a wide net in their new found dynamic range...
2021-11-141h 35
Third Gear ScratchKaty GuillenWhen Katy Guillen was but a wee lass, her father would bring her around to play her brand of the blues on guitar at open mic jam sessions in KC and the midwest, stoking the fire in her, curating and aiding her evolution from prodigious wunderkind into her current state of songwriting machine and indie-blues stalwart. She prefers writing in collaboration with her amazing trio and sees the reward in a better song, but the seed of the song is Katy, her voice and her guitar. We talk about dark days in the covid, her life in KC, late...
2021-11-011h 24
Third Gear ScratchTierney Tough ReturnsReturn-guest and songwriter Tierney Tough survived and in fact thrived during the Covid era by hunkering down and creating, starting with a series of covers with her angular pop band The Pauses on the Quarantunes EP, which led straight into the creation of her own solo EP, A Farce To Be Reckoned With. It's a personal high-water mark for this bassist and pianist as she reckons with her life in Florida, first as a native of Orlando and now Gainesville and it's impact on her life and times. We stare down thorny topics like Taco Bell, the risk vs...
2021-10-251h 12
Third Gear ScratchXavier AlexanderTo say Xavier Alexander is busy is to miss the point. He's a recovering musician and has reanimated himself as Roaster/Founder/CEO of METRIC COFFEE. He has created a brand of specialty coffees that puts people over profits. METRIC has no board, no investors, and they're blowing the bloody doors off the coffee market in Chicago and beyond. The years creating this brand were filled with endless workdays, side jobs, diligent saving, baby-making, getting jilted, learning from loss, coffee roasting, world traveling, with sustainability, labor fairness, and transparency in reporting as focus. Now his inner-artist is able to...
2021-10-181h 35
Third Gear ScratchChuck WhittingtonChuck Whittington of namelessnumberheadman makes music that is at once analog and digital, acoustic and electronic, whimsical and sad, seemingly mundane and matter-of-factly magical. Their new record Plot the Points is a high water mark for a band of old friends from KC via Oklahoma who've made music for the past 20 years that has kept them sane and garnered rave reviews from the indie cognoscenti along the way. It's a wide-ranging chat with a talented multi-instrumentalist, working man and rad dad who's making the best music of his life.
2021-10-111h 16
Third Gear ScratchBuzz OsborneBuzz Osborne has cultivated and nourished the kingdom over which he and his musical partner of almost 40 years, drummer Dale Crover currently reign with particular care taken to keep the masses of MELVINS fans sated. He and his wife Mackie are the architects of not only the traditional MELVINS releases but also the hand screen-printed, letter press and limited edition releases that are manna from heaven for their flock. We talk about their new release Five Legged Dog which features about 30 of their "hits" reimagined as all-acoustic numbers. We also talk about growing up, school, their uncanny sense of v...
2021-10-041h 16
Third Gear ScratchMike SullivanWhen Mike Sullivan created Russian Circles with his hockey homie and drummer Dave Turnkrantz, it's evolution from larvae to butterfly was almost immediate; the writing was streamlined instantly and there was an innate and unconscious understanding of what the goal was here: to make themselves happy. They write to scratch the itch that can only be reached through therapy and rocking. We talk life, writing, searching, making, fighting, cooking, car accidents, family and all while they're in Chicago making a new record at Electrical Audio with Kurt Ballou.
2021-09-201h 42
Third Gear ScratchHeidi PhillipsHeidi Phillips found the inspirado the reform her influential band Frogpond after almost 20 years ironically at the celebration of life of her drummer Billy Johnson at the Madrid Theater in 2017, and in the ensuing years has secured a lineup that make her new music even more relevant and powerful than she imagined, with a new LP Time Thief (Black Site) recorded by Shiner bassist Paul Malinowski that showcases the heft and dynamic of the band. Time Thief is a testament to the fact that Heidi and Frogpond broke ground for all-female bands and broke the mold for what they s...
2021-09-061h 04
Third Gear ScratchMike LustChicago musician slash wizard Mike Lust has just released his long awaited solo debut Demented Wings (Forge Again) and it's amazing. This episode is an encore redux of our talk on Sept 21st, 2020 plus a recent chat about his new record and even more revelations from his storied past as the brain and namesake of Chicago bands Luster King and Tight Phantomz and as engineer and producer for so many bands at his studio Phantom Manor before it's untimely demise a few years ago. Get reacquainted with this firebrand performer known for high kicks and shredding licks with his n...
2021-08-301h 34
Third Gear ScratchMax BernsteinGuitarist Max Bernstein and I met in 2007 on tour somewhere in Iowa in a mostly empty room with his band The Actual, and he had no idea he would be working with the biggest names in the biz as their guitarist and sideman soon after. His audition that landed the Kesha gig soon after we met has parlayed this anomaly into a bona fide career with these pop giants. His life growing up was a atypical existence as the son of celebrated writer Nora Ephron and legendary journalist Carl Bernstein, but it gave him the knowledge and confidence that hi...
2021-08-241h 30
Third Gear ScratchMax BernsteinWhen Max Bernstein began his career as guitarist, sideman and touring music director for an at-the-time unknown artist named Kesha, he had only the experience of leading his indie-rock band The Actual, playing spartan shows around the country (with the exception of opening for Velvet Revolver for a tour). He has parlayed that into working with pop legends like Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and Weezer among others. With famous parents like writer Nora Ephron and journalist Carl Bernstein, it comes with the assurance that incredible careers and aspirations are much more than pipe dreams, it was always an attainable...
2021-08-231h 31
Third Gear ScratchJeremy SidenerBefore bassist Jeremy Sidener became the owner of the Eighth Street Taproom in Lawrence KS where he worked for 29 years, he was the rock-solid bottom end of legendary Lawrence band Zoom that was influential not just for bands like Shiner but was hailed as a bellwether of musical style after their 2nd full length Helium Octopede was released on Tim/Kerr records. These reverential pronouncements from press and other musicians weren't enough to keep the band together, so Jeremy took his talents to guitar in Panel Donor and then more recently in the excellent Major Games while quietly taking...
2021-08-161h 41
Third Gear ScratchQuin KirchnerQuin Kirchner has spent his life growing into where he's arrived currently, which is to say a world-class jazz drummer, composer and now bandleader with The Quin Kirchner Trio, but has been playing with top-flight players and leading groups large and small for the better part of 20 years like Head With Wings, K/V/L and later NOMO, a giant ensemble of largely improvised material which later begat Wild Belle. He's spent his life as side man to great players like Rob Mazurek, Jeb Bishop and Nick Mazzarella but hadn't come into his own until the QKT released The...
2021-08-091h 33
Third Gear ScratchMatt TalbottHUM guitarist / singer Matt Talbott is the celebrant for the live taping of the 100th episode of TGS at Fitzgeralds in Berwyn IL and it did not disappoint the sold out crowd who got to know about not only Matts work with HUM but about his bar/venue Loose Cobra, his studio Earth Analog, his solo career doing house shows across the US and how that has changed his life. We also get to hear from him about his drummer Bryan St Pere who had just passed less than a week prior. Matt is so funny and dry; an...
2021-08-021h 25
Third Gear ScratchJohnny DruganBassist / Owner of Drugan's Drums Johnny Drugan was raised just how you'd think the son of a professional musician would be raised; surrounded by rock stars like Johnny Winters whose band his dad played bass in, soaking up the rich environment of smokey studios, life-changing guitar solos, and with off-days spent at flea markets learning to haggle and deal, gleaning the true worth of something before becoming a ripping bassist with bands like Beneath Me in the early 2000s and then ultimately focusing his talents on Drugan's Drums and Guitars about 10 years ago, turning into one of the regions...
2021-07-261h 29
Third Gear ScratchThomas GalassiBlueMan Captain and Filmmaker Thomas "Boomer" Galassi has mastered the art of living the life he wants to live. He found BlueManGroup after moving to New York and surviving the rounds of soul-sucking auditions designed to tear the actor down and working temp jobs and got introduced to Chris, Matt and Phil, the original three BlueMen who subsequently put him through six months of training before finally informing him he'd been hired into his dream job, but it wasn't until a certain psychedelic experience allowed him to find his character: himself. To boot, he and his brother Adam are...
2021-06-281h 48
Third Gear ScratchEric FundingslandPunkrocker turned documentary filmmaker Eric Fundingsland first full-length film "Why Am I Doing This?" A Film About Touring is a funny and insightful look into the often undignified world of touring in a rock band that can be sketchy even on the best of days. He talks with rockers like Steve Albini, Tim Midyett, Joe Preston and many more about why they do what they do, and when asked why they continue to tour some are actually not sure why. We talk about how he made the film and what it took to edit over 500 gigs of footage together...
2021-06-211h 24
Third Gear ScratchAlianna KalabaBefore Alianna Kalaba began playing bass in FACS with Brian Case (Disappears/Ponys/Episode 2 of TGS) she had been and still is Chan Marshall aka Cat Power's drummer for most of a decade playing festivals, touring the world and living the life of a working musician that can only be dreamed of. Now as FACS releases Present Tense (Trouble in Mind) their 4th record in 4 years, she talks about her life and how she's created this amazing career a reality, from her early Chicago band We Regazzi, her roaring '20s, the stability of her relationship with her partner...
2021-06-141h 55
Third Gear ScratchoddCOUPLEProducer oddCOUPLE aka Zach Henderson had a revelation that his life is supposed to be about creating music and whatever has to happen will happen and has happened to make this a reality. His work with artists like Chance the Rapper, Jamila Woods and Joey Purp has helped to establish him as a producer to be reckoned with, pulling the best out of those artists to make their visions come to life. Now he's releasing his third album Reflections with features from Jamila Woods, theMIND and Kweku Collins and it's already making waves and is a powerful reminder of t...
2021-05-311h 35
Third Gear ScratchBobby MarkosCloakroom bassist Bobby Markos didn't realize his journalism degree from college would split him into his current state of existence as a touring musician half the time and as a racing speedway historian with volumes of knowledge accumulated through years spent with his dad Bob Markos they then turned into MarkosRacingMedia, a collaboration in which they've made 4 full-length documentaries about the race tracks of yesteryear. This wealth of info has led him into his current role as a consultant and buddying TV personality on a new NBC Peacock show called Lost Speedways starring Dale Earnhardt Jr and is now...
2021-05-241h 41
Third Gear ScratchJohn AgnelloProducer / Engineer / Mixer John Agnello is now a legend after having learned from other legends first-hand like Jimmy Iovine and Shelly Yakus in his years at the RecordPlant as an assistant engineer before launching his own career with bands like The Outfield and The Hooters. That work opened the indie-rock world to John as the go-to guy for bands like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Kurt Vile, Jawbox, Chavez, Drive By Truckers among thousands. He's an aural chameleon and explains how he loves working with bands to help them find exactly what's missing, even when they didn't know it was.
2021-05-171h 30
Third Gear ScratchSarah QuinteroSpotlights bassist Sarah Quintero delves deep and raps with Allen about, among other things, Liz Cheney, the ups and downs of being in a band with her husband Mario (turns out it's almost all ups), their time as a two-piece band traveling with backing drum tracks and how that helped them hone and shape their live show, the power of playing live, how silly and restrictive genre labels are for bands like theirs that successfully straddle several, why she doesn't care what anyone thinks about her career choices and we talk about when she realized she wasn't a part-time...
2021-05-101h 21
Third Gear ScratchIan HultquistComposer Ian Hultquist quit his band Passion Pit in 2014 when they were at the height of their success, from spots on SNL to headlining Madison Square Garden to pursue his original goal of scoring for film and TV, specifically leaning into documentaries like Ivory Towers, Go For The Gold and First Monday In May and features like My Blind Brother (Nick Kroll/Adam Scott) before his current TV series Dickenson for Apple TV +. We wander around through his time at Berklee in Boston right as Passion Pit was blowing up on MySpace (yep) and went straight to the top...
2021-05-031h 09
Third Gear ScratchKen AndrewsKen Andrews gives us a lengthy peek at his life making music with his band Failure, making music as a solo artist vs band, producing and mixing as a living, working with household names like Jimmy Eat World, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and NIN, he details the writing process with Failure and how they use improvisation as a key tool and how to know what to throw away, which turns out to be most of it, we discuss being befuddled by our children's math homework and why it's David Lee Roth over Sammy Hagar any day. kenandrews.c...
2021-04-261h 44
SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW... A Johnny Radio PodcastEpisode 6 - ALLEN EPLEYALLEN EPLEY is an alt-rock legend with not one, but two amazing bands: Shiner and The Life and Times. Adding a third to the equation, Birdhands, is a welcome surprise but also no surprise at all when you consider this man's disciplined work ethic. We talk about all of these these musical projects as well as his side gigs ranging from teaching to bartending to being an integral part of the Blue Man Group band in Chicago for the past 10 years. On top of all that, Mr. Epley also finds the time to host a successful podcast of his...
2021-04-2153 min
Performance AnxietyAllen Epley (The Life And Times, Shiner)This week I speak with Allen Epley. At this point, I’d normally tell you what band he plays with. But there’s so damn many! Shiner, The Life and Times, Broasis, Birdhands, The Blue Man Group. And that’s just what he’s working on NOW. He also hosts a great podcast called Third Gear Scratch that talks with working artists about how they balance their creative lives with everyday life. Keep an eye on his IG account @alienepilepsy to stay up with everything he’s involved in. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on Twitter & IG. We join our conversation with Allen...
2020-04-171h 09
Curious Minds at WorkCM 112: Nicholas Epley on How Well We Know Each OtherDo we know what others think? What about our partners or closest friends?
Nick Epley, author of the book, Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want, explains that we can read the minds of others, but not nearly as well as we think. In fact, we can barely read our own minds.
Nicholas Epley is Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His research has appeared in more than two dozen journals, including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and his work has...
2018-08-2541 min
Vinyl EmergencyEpisode 49: Allen Epley of Shiner and The Life & TimesKansas City, MO quartet Shiner are seen as giants of the indefinable mathy/space-rock scene, having built a rabid cult following while touring with acts like Jawbox, Hum and more during the mid-90's/early-00's. For the last five years, the band has done sporadic reunion shows in support of pressing their albums to vinyl for the first time, beginning with 2001's "The Egg," followed by "Starless" (2000) and most recently "Lula Divinia," coinciding with that record's 20th anniversary this year. Today, vocalist/guitarist Allen Epley discusses his journey from 70's AM favorites to indie heavyweights like The Jesus Lizard...
2017-03-1756 min