Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico

In this episode, we're joined by filmmaker ("Who the F*ck Is That Guy?"), singer of Incendiary Device, and host of New York Hardcore Chronicles Live — Drew Stone.

Music Clips by Incendiary Device, The Long Wait, SSD, The Charms, and The Dogmatics

Produced and Hosted by Steev Riccardo

#blowingsmokewithtwistedrico #podcast

This episode brings together three staples of the Worcester, MA music scene — aka Wormtown — for a conversation that spans decades of local rock history. Steve Aquino, Artie Sneiderman, and Dave Spaz now make up Swamp Roots, but their roots run deep through some legendary bands. Aquino and Spaz are former members of garage rock mainstays The Lyres, while Sneiderman and Aquino go even further back together as bandmates in The Crybabies.

Music clips from The Charms, The Dogmatics, Prime Movers, and Black Helicopter

Additional Music

Swamp Roots "Looking Back"

Swamp Roots "Im Not Through With You Yet"

Produced and Hosted by Steev Riccardo

Interview Recorded by Mike Newman at WMFO

Joel Simches is a Boston multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer, tour manager, and record producer with 35 years in the game, having played in over 40 bands and worked with artists like the Dresden Dolls, DeVotchKa, and Big Dipper. These days he's a staff engineer at Watch City Studios.

Music Clips from The Charms, The Dogmatics, Blame It On Whitman, The Prime Movers, Greg Allen's Fringe Religion and Speedfossil.

Produced and Hosted by Steev Riccardo

Our friend Mike Newman has been a fixture in radio for decades — and he joins us to talk about his incredible career and some of our all-time favorite albums from the '70s!

Music Clips by The Zulus, Applied knowledge, The Long Wait, The Charms, and The Dogmatics.

Produced and Hosted by Steev Riccardo

Leah Callahan returns to the show to talk about her fantastic new album, Our Lady of the Sad Adventure, and other highlights from her long music career.

Music Clips by The Charms, Black Helicopter, The Prime Movers, and Leah Callahan

Produced and Hosted by Steev Riccardo

In this episode, we are joined by John Sparrow, drummer of Violent Femmes. Modern Drummer once described his approach perfectly: his drumming isn't built around the idea of a traditional kit — it's about choosing the right drum for the song. That spirit of experimentation and sonic curiosity has made Sparrow one of the more distinctive voices in the percussion world, and today we get to hear the story behind it all.

Music clips from The Charms, The Dogmatics, The Zulus, and The Prime Movers

Produced and Hosted by Steev Riccardo

Today's guest carries a legacy as big as the music itself. Jules Peters, widow of the legendary Mike Peters of The Alarm, joins us to talk about the band's brand new — and final — album. It's an emotional, inspiring, and deeply personal conversation you won't want to miss.

Music Clips by The Charms, The Dogmatics, Blame It On Whitman, The Long Wait and The Alarm.

Produced and Hosted by Steev Riccardo

Darren Hill returns to the show to talk about the new live Red Rockers album, recorded at Tipitina's in the band's hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2023.

The Red Rockers were a New Orleans punk/new wave band formed in 1979 by John Thomas Griffith, James Singletary, and Darren Hill, who took their name from a song by California punk band The Dils. Early on they earned the nickname "America's Clash" for their politically charged debut Condition Red (1981), and even opened for The Clash on a Louisiana/Texas tour in 1982. Signing with San Francisco's 415 Records, they relocated and overhauled their sound, scoring their biggest hit with the new wave single "China" in 1983, which reached #19 on the Mainstream Rock chart and received heavy MTV rotation. Internal tensions over their commercial shift led to lineup changes and a third album, Schizophrenic Circus (1984), before they disbanded in 1985. The band reunited in 2023, with founding members reissuing Condition Red to a new generation of listeners.

Music clips by The Charms, The Dogmatics, Blame It On Whitman, Black Helicopter, and The Red Rockers..

Produced and Hosted by Steev Riccardo

Jack Grisham — the iconic frontman of SoCal punk legends T.S.O.L. joins us to talk about time, reinvention, and his new project Jack Grisham and the Life Undone, a collaboration with Berlin-based musician Lars Triesch. Grisham reflects on a life lived at full speed and the creative impulse behind the duo's debut record — a project he's quick to clarify isn't really a "band," but "a couple of friends who made a cool record." They discuss the first single "Pieces of the Sun" and the upcoming album.

Music Clips by The Charms, The Dogmatics, The Zulus, and Jack Grisham And The Life Undone

Produced and Hosted by Steev Riccardo

This show is a real mixed bag. We talk about the New Alliance Gallery art opening, how Dag Nasty got signed to Giant Records, 2026 summer tours, and if that's not enough, a replay of our conversation with the great Jim McCarty — Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer of The Yardbirds.

Music Clips by The Charms, The Dogmatics, and The Long Wait

Produced and Hosted by Steev Riccardo