Adrian Has Issues

In this week's episode, Adrian is once again joined comedian and writer Mario Candelaria (Ashes, The Chart, Tales From The Pandemic). The duo start off discussing the inspiration behind Mario's latest comic "Fog Line," but the conversation takes several irreverent yet poignant turns featuring takes on Lethal Weapon 2 and Mad Men & more. Mario also goes on a deep dive into his love for hit R&B singer The Weeknd, irredeemable characters in fiction and celebrating the success as well as failures along the creative process.

Ro Panuganti is a musician who specializes in guitar-driven music in the vein of progressive rock/metal that have become staples within the videogame music community. His covers have ranged from classic game/movie franchises from The Legend of Zelda and Undertale to Frozen and Hamilton. After building a following through these releases and his YouTube channel, Ro embarks on the next leg of his musical journey with a 5-song concept album entitled Project Discover. In this episode, Adrian has a conversation with Ro regarding the EP which draws inspiration from his experiences as a 2nd generation immigrant, Indian mythology and his deep love of videogames. Ro also details how the themes of identity and representation play into the story but also draw parallels to the VGM community and the path to grow as an artist.

On this week’s episode Adrian welcome back Cody Carpenter to the podcast. Cody is a third generation musician and has lent his unique talents to a plethora of projects including the 2018 film Halloween and The Lost Themes trilogy, which he co-wrote, co-produced, and performed with his father John Carpenter and Daniel Davies. In addition to his projects under the pseudonym Ludrium, Cody has been producing and performing a series of fantastic instrumental albums in the vein of jazz fusion and progressive rock. We discuss the inspiration behind the tracks on latest album Memories And Dreams through Blue Canoe Records as well as weigh in on the resurgence of videogame-themed movies and the influence gaming has had on their lives and creative ventures.

On this week’s podcast, Adrian is joined by Eileen Melendez aka The LatiNerd and returning guest, comic book writer/letterer Erica Schultz (Daredevil, Forgotten Home). Erica’s latest title The Deadliest Bouquet from Vices Press focuses on three sisters who are forced to confront a complicated family legacy when investigating their mother’s murder. Adrian, Eileen and Erica examine the book’s themes complete with irreverent yet insightful takes on sibling rivalry, death as well as action movie stars of the 80’s & 90’s.

On this week’s guest is singer/musician/YouTuber Lacey Johnson! Armed with boundless enthusiasm, razor-sharp wit and a monster-slaying keytar, Lacey covers music from games like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and many more. In addition to her YouTube channel, Lacey is also known for energetic live performances that have been making a statement in the Video Game Music community. Lacey shares her experiences with the joys and challenges in arranging music as well as producing videos. Adrian and Lacey also make predictions on what post-pandemic concerts will look like as well as hold an honest discussion on how confronting fear is integral to the creative process.

On this week's podcast, cartoonist Alex Schumacher returns! In early 2020, his semi-autobiographical webcomic "Decades of (in)Experience" through Antix Press had celebrated 200 episodes. Now a year later, Alex talks about the decision to conclude the strip as well as rebrand his other project, the satirical shenanigans of Mr. Butterchips. Embarking on the next phases of his personal and creative endeavors, Alex shares his thoughts regarding the importance of art to evolve and reinforce the idea that it's never too late for new beginnings. For all the latest updates on Alex Schumacher please visit his website alexschumacherart.com.

On this week's podcast, Adrian chats once again with veteran punk rocker Mikey Erg (The Ergs, Worriers) Fresh off the release of his new self-titled solo album, Mikey discusses his "Return to punk rock" and his experience writing and recording a new album in the midst of a global pandemic. Adrian and Mikey also reflect on the absence of live music, share concert-going regrets and the underrated punk prowess of Pearl Jam.

This week’s guests are composers Aivi & Surasshu. They are a chiptune and piano duo, comprised of pianist Aivi Tran and sound designer Steven "Surasshu" Velema. The two have created a significant number of songs for the award-winning Cartoon Network animated series Steven Universe and Steven Universe Future. The duo have been making waves for their work on the soundtrack for the indie RPG Ikenfell created by Chevy Ray of Happy Ray Games along with Sabrielle Augustin. The soundtrack features guest artists such as Sammus, Stemage, Renko, Adriana Figueroa and Reckadem. In this episode, Adrian speaks with Aivi & Surasshu about the evolution of their professional/personal relationship, the concept of “Digital Fusion” in music and Ikenfell’s themes of inclusion and normalization of queer characters in storytelling as well as the game’s unique accessibility options.

On this week’s episode, Adrian teams up with Talking Like A Teen co-host Ashley Burgy for a conversation with voice actress Jennifer Hale. Jennifer has lent her voice to a plethora of animated series (Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Powerpuff Girls) and videogames (Mass Effect, Metal Gear Solid) and currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most female videogame voices. Jennifer talks about her experiences narrating her first audiobook for Christopher Paolini’s novel, To Sleep In A Sea of Stars and co-writing a song inspired by the book along with Todd Herfindal . Plus, Adrian and Ashley chat with Jennifer about the Mass Effect cast reunion hosted by NerdsVote and the importance of being socially and politically active.

This week Ringo Award nominated writer Frank Gogol returns to Adrian Has Issues! Frank is the writer and creator of comics such as the anthology Grief, No Heroine (which Frank and I discussed on Episode 154) and the critically acclaimed coming of age miniseries Dead End Kids through Source Point Press. In this episode, Frank talks about dealing with the whirlwind success of the original series and approaching writing the follow-up Dead End Kids: The Suburban Job. Adrian and Frank talk about the significance post-9/11 society plays in the comic and how we as a society are still experiencing the ripples of the tragic events. Plus, Frank gives his perspective on the importance of pre-ordering comics from both a retailer and reader point of view.