This week we're talking Glenn Donaldson who is the man behind San Francisco's funny, charmingly gloomy The Red, Pinks & Purples. His latest album Acknowledge Kindness is his first for Fire Records and his most accomplished Reds Pinks and Purples record yet.

Glenn and I discuss the making of the album, its musical inspirations and lyrical themes, how Bandcamp helped him return to songwriting after a few away from the music biz, and the very local artwork for his records. We also talk about balancing sincerity and humor, the exaggerated version of himself that exists on his songs, the current crop of Bay Area indie bands, why The Reds Pinks & Purples haven't played New York, five albums he thinks everyone should own and more.

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Credits:

Hosted & produced by Bill Pearis

Mixed and mastered by Nick Gray

Theme music by Michael Silverstein

This week we're talking to the one and only Robyn Hitchcock about his 50-year career, his new album The Confuser, and his biggest electric-band tour in decades. We also talk about how REM and MTV’s “120 Minutes” helped his US profile back in the '80s, his current Nashville-centered touring band, and working with his wife Emma Swift, producers Paul Fox, John Leckie, Jon Brion, and Dave Rawlings.

Plus: polka dots, Robyn's new memoir Stranded in the Future, five records he thinks everyone should own, and lots more.

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Credits:

Hosted & produced by Bill Pearis

Mixed and mastered by Nick Gray

Theme music by Michael Silverstein

This week we're talking to Mike Ness who has led SoCal punk icons Social Distortion since 1978. The band just released Born to Kill which is their first album in 15 years. It's been a long time coming, delayed further by Covid and Mike's cancer diagnosis and successful treatment.

Mike discusses the making of Born to Kill, the '70s inspirations behind it, and working with producer Dave Sardy and collaborators Lucinda Williams and Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. We also talk about how beating cancer energized his desire to make even more music, Social Distortion's upcoming tour with The Descendents and The Chats, early Social D documentary Another State of Mind, playing Little Steven's Underground Garage Cruise, five records he thinks everyone should own, and more. 

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Credits:

Hosted & produced by Bill Pearis

Mixed and mastered by Nick Gray

Theme music by Michael Silverstein

This week, we're talking with Alex Edkins who you might know as the singer and guitarist for late great Toronto noise rock trio METZ and who now makes insanely catchy and still noisy powerpop as Weird Nightmare. His new album is titled Hoopla and is out via Sub Pop.

Alex and I discuss how Weird Nightmare came to be, and how the first Weird Nightmare album influence the final METZ album. Other conversation topics include: METZ reforming not long after calling it quits to play John Mulaney's Netflix talk show, Alex's youth behind the counter as a record store clerk,   moving from Toronto back to his hometown of Ottawa, working with Spoon's Jim Eno on HOOPLA, records Alex thinks everyone should own, and more.

This week, we're talking with Swedish singer-songwriter José González who just released his fifth album Against the Dying of the Light. He's currently on tour in North America and our conversation happened the day before it started in Boston. We discuss his new album and its somewhat apocalyptic themes, including AI which you'll learn he has a more complicated relationship with than some do.

We also talk about his use of distortion in his mostly acoustic music and how that will play out on this current tour which is at rock clubs and not the seated theaters of his last few tours. He also tells us how his punk and post-hardcore youth continues to influence his music, what he listens to when he runs, the acclaimed video for his cover of The Knife's "Heartbeats" and how he may be doing more covers in the future, and more.

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Credits:

Hosted & produced by Bill Pearis

Mixed and mastered by Nick Gray

Theme music by Michael Silverstein

photo: Ellika Henriksson

This week, we've got filmmaker Chandler Levack who actually has two new films out. The first is Mile End Kicks which is based on her own life as a music journalist and is set against the backdrop of the Montreal music scene of the late '00s and early '10s. The other film is comedy Roommates which was made for Netflix under Adam Sandler's Happy Madison production company.

We talked to Chandler about recreating the Montreal of her 20s for Mile End Kicks, getting the music and other details right, getting indie musicians to score her movies, how she got hooked up with Adam Sandler's company just after releasing her terrific, feature film debut, I Like Movies, Montreal bands she thinks deserve more attention, and more.

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Credits:

Hosted & produced by Bill Pearis

Mixed and mastered by Nick Gray

Theme music by Michael Silverstein

Photo: Greg Gorman

This week we've got a true iconoclast: filmmaker, provocateur, author, hitchhiker, tastemaker, Sub Pop and Third Man Recording Artist, festival MC and all around legend John Waters. He's currently on tour with Going to Extremes: A John Waters 80th Birthday Celebration.

John and I talk about what he's doing on his birthday tour, and on his actual birthday which is April 22. We also talk about how Donald Trump has ruined bad taste for everyone, how John Waters has influenced punk and vice versa, his first punk show, casting The Dead Boys' Stiv Bators in Polyester, getting L7 to be in Serial Mom, his long-running job as host of Oakland's Mosswood Meltdown, rules of etiquette, and lots more.

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Credits:

Hosted & produced by Bill Pearis

Mixed and mastered by Nick Gray

Theme music by Michael Silverstein

Photo: Greg Gorman

We've got a great episode for you today as punk and alt-rock icon Bob Mould is here to talk all things Sugar. The trio, who originally existed from 1992 through early 1995, will play their first show in 31 years on May 2 in NYC which kick-starts reunion tour that runs through the fall.

Bob tells us how the Sugar reunion came to be, their very loud shows, the pros and cons of earplugs, being a Williamsburg, Brooklyn pioneer in the early '90s, being signed to Creation Records in the UK, the prospect of more music from Sugar, and more.

We also discuss music documentaries, that time Bob joined Militarie Gun on stage to play a Hüsker Dü song, the possibility of Hüsker Dü studio album reissues, his solo band's rhythm section's growing side hustle as an REM tribute act, his involvement with the Hedwig & The Angry Inch movie and more.

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Credits:

Hosted & produced by Bill Pearis

Mixed and mastered by Nick Gray

Theme music by Michael Silverstein

Photo: Beau Sorensen

This week we're talking to Carl Newman of Canadian indie rock institution The New Pornographers. The band's 10th album is titled The Former Site Of and it might be their most synth-forward record to date. Carl and I discuss that topic, among many others including how lyrically this album is different from their previous nine. We also talk mandolins, tiki bars, and payphones, plus memorable New York City shows, and we finally get to the bottom of whether The New Pornographers are indie sleaze or not. The answer may surprise you!

This is a fun one and keep an ear out for Carl's dog Banjo making an appearance in the background of this one.

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Credits:

Hosted & produced by Bill Pearis

Mixed and mastered by Nick Gray

Theme music by Michael Silverstein

This week we've got a living legend with us -- producer, dub stylist, remixer and On-U Sound label founder and all-around cool cat Adrian Sherwood. He's worked with just about everyone which if you didn't already know, you'll learn on this episode. 

Our wide-ranging conversation includes how he stumbled into record production, working with Lee Scratch Perry, The Fall, Nine Inch Nails, and more, forming influential group Tackhead in the '80s, remixing recent albums from Spoon and Sonic Boom & Panda Bear, his 2025 solo album The Collapse of Everything, the disappointment of having to postpone his 2026 North American tour, five records he thinks everyone should own, and more.

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Credits:

Hosted & produced by Bill Pearis

Mixed and mastered by Nick Gray

Theme music by Michael Silverstein