Mike fires up Your Dark Companion with a literal lightning strike, then welcomes Dallas lifers Ward Richmond and John Pedigo to talk about Ward’s new album, Big Addict Energy—a brutally honest, oddly hilarious chronicle of high-functioning drinking, rehab math, and rebuilding a life that actually fits. We bounce from Lakewood and Deep Ellum war stories to the therapist who called her shot (“alcoholic”), the Truck Yard-as-office era, and why Ward now tours with… a pedal that plays his whole band (karaoke, but make it auteur). Pedigo breaks down the “producer as translator” approach—less sprinkle, more spine—while the guys trade memories, cuss less (sometimes), and make a pretty airtight case for talking about addiction without the shame fog. Stick around for the closer: Ward’s earworm “Non-Alcoholic Beer Drinking Man.” It slaps, even if your drink is Topo.