It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and Bandsplain has a very special gift for you. Rob Mahoney and Amanda Dobbins join Yasi to draft the dream holiday playlist: Justin Bieber featuring Busta Rhymes? Of course. Lots of Irish stuff? For sure. My Chem? Why not! Yasi finding a place for Counting Crows? You know it!

And because those sleigh bells kept ringing, there’s a lightning-round second draft for even more holiday cheer. Bonus gift: You get to explain to your family and friends why Wham!’s "Last Christmas" is your favorite CVS-core holiday song (and what CVS-core is)!

Episode Playlist

Listen to Bandsplain’s Holiday Playlist here. 

Host: Yasi Salek @yasisalek
Guests: Rob Mahoney @robmahoney and Amanda Dobbins @akdobbins
Producer: Rob Sundermann
Editor: Adrian Bridges
Additional Production Supervision: Justin Sayles
Theme Song: Bethany Cosentino

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That’s (almost) a wrap on 2025, so you know what time it is. Yasi catches up with Chris Ryan to talk about the albums that defined their 2025. No rankings, no drafts, no winners or losers, just two people talking about the records they loved most this year. Come for the predictable Geese love, stay for the Shallowater you didn’t know you needed.

Episode Playlist
Listen to the best albums of the year playlist here.

Host: Yasi Salek @yasisalek
Guest: Chris Ryan @chrisryan77
Producer: Rob Sundermann
Editor: Adrian Bridges
Additional Production Supervision: Justin Sayles
Theme Song: Bethany Cosentino

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Yasi is joined by The Big Picture’s Sean Fennessey to dive into the brief, brilliant career of Jeff Buckley. They cover his rise on New York’s café stages and the making of his only studio album, 'Grace,' and they discuss how his singular voice, his wildly varied influences, and his tragic and untimely death helped to shape one of the most enduring myths in modern music.

Episode Playlist

Listen to the Jeff Buckley playlist HERE

CREDITS:
Host: Yasi Salek @yasisalek
Guest: Sean Fennessey @seanfennessey
Producer: Rob Sundermann
Editor: Adrian Bridges
Additional Production Supervision: Justin Sayles
Theme Song: Bethany Cosentino

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This week on Bandsplain, Yasi and New York Times culture reporter Joe Coscarelli revisit Dig!, Ondi Timoner’s influential 2004 cult documentary that immortalized The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. They discuss the band’s intertwined legacies, the broken friendships and broken sitars, why Dig! is the platonic ideal of the music documentary, plus last year’s extended cut release, Dig! XX.

Be sure to check out Joe’s book Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story

CREDITS:

Host: Yasi Salek @yasisalek

Guest: Joe Coscarelli @joecoscarelli

Producer: Rob Sundermann 

Editor: Adrian Bridges

Additional Production Supervision: Justin Sayles

Theme Song: Bethany Cosentino

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On this week’s episode of Bandsplain, Bre Morell of Crushed joins Yasi to talk about reluctant genre inventing geniuses Massive Attack. We talk through the rich music history of Bristol, their sound system DJ origins, the visual signatures, all the musical influences that fed into their sound, and the many artists that sprung up or morphed their sound in their wake. 

Episode Playlist

Listen to the Massive Attack playlist here

CREDITS:

Host: Yasi Salek @yasisalek

Guest: Bre Morell @bremorell

Producer: Rob Sundermann 

Editor: Adrian Bridges

Additional Production Supervision: Justin Sayles

Theme Song: Bethany Cosentino

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It’s mailbag time, and once again Rob Harvilla is here to help Yasi answer your most pressing questions. Is 31 too old to go to shows? What would you recommend to impress a hardcore Swedish punk gamer? Why do all the kids these days look like Geese (the band)? And who was stage diving at a Riff Raff show?!

Next, Yasi is joined by Militarie Gun’s Ian Shelton to discuss their new album God Save The Gun. And along the way they talk getting over your embarrassment, therapy through songwriting, and some less controversial topics (like God). 

CREDITS:

Host: Yasi Salek ⁠@yasisalek⁠

Guests: Rob Harvilla ⁠@harvilla⁠, Ian Shelton ⁠@militariegun⁠

Producer: Rob Sundermann 

Editor: Adrian Bridges

Additional Production Supervision: Justin Sayles

Theme Song: Bethany Cosentino

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Chris Ryan is back to help tell the Jimmy Eat World story. CR and Yasi talk about the power of the split seven inch, Clarity vs Bleed American, and the magically accidental path from playing pop punk in used clothing stores in Mesa, AZ to their (don’t call it) emo explosion into mainstream success.

Listen to the best of Jimmy Eat World HERE

CREDITS:

Host: Yasi Salek @yasisalek

Guest: Chris Ryan @ChrisRyan77

Producer: Rob Sundermann 

Editor: Adrian Bridges

Additional Production Supervision: Justin Sayles

Theme Song: Bethany Cosentino

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Evan Dando is back with a long-awaited memoir and a brand-new Lemonheads album, and there’s only one guest who could do them both justice: the artist formerly known as Producer Dylan, aka Dylan Tupper Rupert.

In this episode, Yasi and Dylan dive into their takeaways, learnings, and surprises from the book, Rumors of My Demise and also discuss the first original Lemonheads album in 19 years, Love Chant (it’s good!).

CREDITS:

Host: Yasi Salek @yasisalek

Guest: Dylan Rupert

Producer: Rob Sundermann 

Video Editor: Kevin Pooler

Audio Editor: Adrian Bridges

Additional Production Supervision: Justin Sayles

Theme Song: Bethany Cosentino

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With her 1996 best-selling album Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette bet on herself, turned pain into pop poetry, and gave an entire generation a new emotional vocabulary. She also broke records and made space for an entire wave of worthy female musicians to be heard in her wake. And since then she’s continued to do what she does best - turn her experiences into gorgeous musical reflections on the psyche and the self. 

This week on Bandsplain, Alicia Bognanno of Bully joins Yasi to talk about the honesty, vulnerability and power behind one of the most defining voices of the ’90s.

Episode Playlist

Listen to the best of Alanis here

CREDITS:

Host: Yasi Salek @yasisalek

Guest: Alicia Bognanno @bullythemusic

Producer: Rob Sundermann 

Video Editor: Ashleigh Smith

Audio Editor: Adrian Bridges

Additional Production Supervision: Justin Sayles

Theme Song: Bethany Cosentino

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In today’s episode we’re heading back to the Sunset Strip — a leather clad world of teased hair, tight pants, and pure chaos. Guest Molly Lambert helps us remember the golden era of hair metal, when bands like Mötley Crüe, Poison, and Ratt made the Sunset Strip their glitter covered playground. Turn it up, spray it higher and relive the excess and freedom of the 80s with us. 

Episode Playlist:

Listen to Hair Metal Fall of Fame ⁠Here⁠

CREDITS:

Host: Yasi Salek @yasisalek

Guest: Molly Lambert

Producer: Rob Sundermann 

Video Editor: Ashleigh Smith

Audio Editor: Adrian Bridges

Additional Production Supervision: Justin Sayles, Juliana Ress

Theme Song: Bethany Cosentino

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