And Introducing film correspondent, Blank Check pod & the Atlantic’s David Sims returns for two more recent musician biopics: James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown & Michael Gracey’s Better Man. Two very different movies about very different musicians that nonetheless explore similar themes on the nature of fame, talent & musicianship. We talk Timmy, Bobby, Robbie & more, and see if there’s still juice to squeeze from the biopic genre. Plus of course: does the monkey play?

Listen to David on Blank Check wherever you get pods and subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/blankcheck

Check out David’s writing in the Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/david-sims/

Read Molly’s music blog: https://www.ienjoymusic.net/

Welcome to the Willenium, baby! We’re joined by YouTube’s Todd in the Shadows to look at the musical career of Will Smith. From growing up under the influence of his demanding father, to discovering his performing (and lying) abilities in school, clicking with Jazzy Jeff, indulging in “chicken wings,” his super-star turn to acting & extremely self-conscious return to hip-hop, we track Will’s music & celebrity up to “the slap” and beyond from his 2021 memoir Will. As Todd says, may be one of the weirdest guys he’s ever encountered.

Check out Todd’s Trainwerckords video on Will Smith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNm0HDCRdnc&ab_channel=ToddintheShadows

Plus Todd’s always great year-end videos,

Worst Songs of 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8ssUcZSqV8&ab_channel=ToddintheShadows

Best songs of 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkXpvScL94Q&ab_channel=ToddintheShadows

Songs in order:

DJ Jazzy Jeff - Peter Piper Routine

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Girls Ain’t Nothing but Trouble

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Summertime

Will Smith - Don’t Say Nothing

Will Smith & Joyner Lucas - Tantrum

Neil Cicierega - Wow Wow

And introducing…on lead vocals, it’s Serj Tankian! We delve into the life of turn of the millennium metal icons System of a Down’s frontman Serj Tankian. Repping Armenia via Glendale, Serj’s life covers everything from founding software companies to composing whale-themed orchestras. We look into his politics, nu-metal in general, a passion for espresso, his signature growls and yelps, and revolutionary participation, as with SOAD’s wild musical success along the way.

Songs in order:

System of a Down - Sugar

System of a Down - Prison Song

System of a Down - Chop Suey

System of a Down - I-E-A-I-A-I-O

System of a Down - Boom

System of a Down - BYOB

Serj Tankian - Empty Walls

Serj Tankian - Orca Act II - Oceanic Subterfuge

System of a Down - Protect the Land

System of a Down - Toxicity

It's part 2 of our excavation of Phil Collins' memoir Not Dead Yet: The Memoir. We've reached the mid-1980s and the boy is absolutely everywhere...can he sustain the breakneck pace of being one of the most celebrated (and oversaturated) Brits in pop music history? We cover his stressful transcontinental Live Aid experience, his Disneyfied '90s, his vibrant but turbulent romantic life, his big band era, and much much more.

The book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538475/not-dead-yet-by-phil-collins/

Songs in order:

Phil Collins - Against All Odds (8-Bit cover by HumanDaikon)

Phil Collins - Invisible Touch

Led Zeppelin - Rock And Roll (Live At Live Aid)

Phil Collins - Everyday

Phil Collins - Sussudio

The Phil Collins Big Band - Pick Up the Pieces (Average White Band cover)

Phil Collins - You'll Be In My Heart

Phil Collins - No Way Out (Theme from Brother Bear)

Phil Collins - Uptight (Everything's Alright) (Stevie Wonder cover)

Phil Collins - Take Me Home

I can feel it coming ON the air tonight...a podcast about Phil Collins. Well, the first part of a podcast about Phil Collins. We're talking about his child actor youth, his mod adolescence, his rock 'n' roll grindset that got him a slot in Genesis, his scoot from the drumset to the front of the stage after Peter Gabriel's departure, and the hella divorced energy beginnings of his epic solo career. All through his own words, his memoir Not Dead Yet: The Memoir. Plug in your drum machine and don't f*ck up your shot at playing the bongos on a George Harrison record...because folks are saying there's still time to make it an Abacab summer.

The book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538475/not-dead-yet-by-phil-collins/

Songs in order:

Katy Perry - Women’s World

Leo Karpatze - The Monster Fuck

Genesis - Dancing With The Moonlit Knight

Genesis - Supper’s Ready

Genesis - Dance on a Volcano

Genesis - Follow You, Follow Me

Genesis - Burning Rope

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonite

Phil Collins - Tomorrow Never Knows

Genesis - Behind the Lines

Genesis - Turn it on Again

Genesis - Abacab

Phil Collins - Can’t Hurry Love

Phil Collins - Against All Odds

Welcome to another And Introducing, Also Interviewing, where today we are talking to Nick Thorburn! You might also known Nick Thorburn as Nick Diamonds. He's been a consistently joyous and joyously consistent presence on the "indie rock" circuit for over twenty years. He fronts the band Islands (and previously The Unicorns) and they have a new album out called What Occurs. We had Nick on the pod to talk about the album as well as his unique live band member Andy, indie rock beeves, and much much more...

Listen to What Occurs: https://islandsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/what-occurs

Nick's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NickfromIslands

Music in this episode:

Islands - "What Occurs"

The Unicorns - "Tuff Ghost"

Islands - "Tangerine"

Islands - "The Arm"

Islands - "Talk Is Cheap"

Roy Orbison - "Candy Colored Clown"

The Stills - "Still In Love Song"

Islands - "Boll Weevil"

It's another And Introducing, Also Interviewing, and we're talking to Nick Llobet from the NYC-based band Youbet! They put out an album called Compare & Despair in 2020 and are back with a fresh new album out called Way To Be (which came out on Hardly Art on May 10th). We talked to Nick about a bunch of things: breaking out of a creative funk by learning folk songs, writing with a Bandcamp songwriting group, teaching other people guitar...it's a nice conversation, we encourage you to listen.

Listen to Way to Be: https://youbetband.bandcamp.com/album/way-to-be

Music in this episode:

youbet - "Volcano"

youbet - "Carsick"

youbet - "Way to Be"

youbet - "Peel"

youbet - "Seeds of Evil"

Another 'And Introducing, Also Interviewing' up on deck. This time we're talking to bad tuner, an electronic musician in Brooklyn—he just put out an EP called look at me but through me, whose single "24 hours" f*cked our sh*t up but utterly when it arrived on our ears' doorstep. We had a great chat with bad tuner about the current club culture in NYC, how to find the samples no one else is using, guerrilla music video making, and why he can't read when you put big text on your phone and hold it up in the crowd...

Listen to the bad tuner EP: https://badtuner.bandcamp.com/album/look-at-me-but-through-me

Music in this episode:

bad tuner - "24 hours"

Röyksopp - "Remind Me"

bad tuner - "jade"

bad tuner - "repeat to fade" (feat. Pollena)

And Introducing, back again, and featuring an interview with an artist that we think you just might love...A Beacon School!

A Beacon School is Patrick J. Smith, a musician in New York City whose pleasing indie pop compositions are gaining big-time steam for listeners worldwide—we're talking millions of streams, TV show syncs, and a multi-city tour coming up later this month. We talked to Patrick about release day Dunkin' Donuts orders, getting kicked out of the venue before 'the late show,' guitar pedal secrets, the problem with remixes, and trying one's best to figure out merch sizing.

Songs featured:

A Beacon School - "Algernon"

A Beacon School - "Honeyed (Stay Forever)"

MAXBAND - "Unsaid"

A Beacon School - "KITM"

A Beacon School - "Adore"

A Beacon School - "Jon"

ford. - "In Motion" (Feat. A Beacon School)

ford. - "In Motion" (Bay Ledges Remix)

Listen to A Beacon School: https://abeaconschool.bandcamp.com

Follow A Beacon School on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abeaconschool

And Introducing is back and we're talking to another musician we like today. Actually two musicians! Emily Ash and Kayla Asbell play in the truly excellent NYC rock and roll band 95 Bulls—Emily on vocals, Kayla on keys—and we caught them in the middle of writing their next album, which will follow 2022's face-ripper Go Home. We talked about the power of Benihana, cranky sound guys, and much much more...give the pod a listen, why doncha?

Follow 95 Bulls: https://www.instagram.com/95bullsnyc/

Check out 95 Bulls' link aggregation: https://linktr.ee/95bullsnyc

Music featured in this episode:

95 Bulls "Young Love"

95 Bulls "Crazy"

95 Bulls "Big Fight"

Devo "Gut Feeling" (95 Bulls cover)

Dead Tooth "Electric Earth"

Hank Wood and the Hammerheads "YOU WANNA DIE"

Balaclava "Dumb City"