Consumable Reality

Karl Kuehn's album, Blue Water, released under the name Gay Meat, was written under the worst possible circumstances. The former Museum Mouth drummer/singer's mom Karen suffered six grand mal seizures in a row in 2018 causing a traumatic brain injury. And as Karl put his touring life on hold to care for his mom, he found that writing songs about what he was going through was a bit therapeutic. Karen passed away in January 2021 and, in the aftermath, Karl finished the album as a tribute, of sorts, to his mom.

Given that the last two episodes of Chip Chats were grief-related, after reading about Karl's story, I reached out to see if he'd like to share his story - the good and the bad - and he agreed to be my guest.

This podcast is not turning into a grief podcast, but I think these conversations are important to have and if hearing people who are on grief journeys can help just one person, it's absolutely worth it.

Check out Gay Meat's Blue Water: https://gaymeat.bandcamp.com/album/blue-water

Chip Chats is not turning into a "sad dads" podcast, but the conversations about losing children and the grief journey is an important one.

In 2021, as a 14-year-old, Nell Smith recorded an album of Nick Cave covers with The Flaming Lips and performed "Red Right Hand" on the Stephen Colbert Show.

Now that Nell had caught people’s attention, she started working on her own music. She worked with artists like Penelope Isles and Shred Kelly and had completed 10 songs with an eye on packaging them up for her first proper solo album. On October 6, 2024, after spending the day shooting footage for the “Split in the Sky” video, Nell was involved in a fatal single-car accident. Just like my own daughter, Liv, Nell had passed away at the age of 17.

Nell’s dad Jude reached out to tell me he had listened to my episode with Ben Kweller and Rocky Votolato and, while painful, he was appreciative that we had shared our stories. He told me about about a Memorial Fund that the family has started to honor Nell and I asked if he’d want to come on the Chip Chats podcast to talk about Nell, his grief journey, the fund and more. I’m so thankful that he agreed. As you’ll hear in the episode, I mentioned that I wish Jude and I had never met, if losing children was the commonality between us, but because of our experiences, I now consider him to be part of my Grief Bros family.

Learn more about the Nell Smith Memorial Fund: https://www.nellsmithmusic.com/about-memorial-fund

Ben Kweller, Rocky Votolato and I are members of a club that we didn't ask to join, don't want to be in, and can never leave. All three of us lost children suddenly and unexpectedly - Ben lost Dorian on February 27, 2023, Rocky lost Kienan on December 6, 2021, and I lost Liv on June 4, 2018.Hopefully, by the three of us sharing our stories, we can offer insights into what it's like to lose a child and provide some sort of hope for new and old members of this club. My deepest and sincerest thanks to Ben and Rocky for joining me and for sharing their stories.

Songs featured in this episode:

"Shattered Stars" by Rocky Votolato

"Oh Dorian" by Ben Kweller (featuring MJ Lenderman)

"Star String Radio" by Rocky Votolato

"Olivia Midnight" by Paper Airplane

Tom Bailey of the Thompson Twins joins me to discuss the new compilation, Industry and Seduction, featuring a comprehensive package of early material, MTV hits, post-Thompson Twins material, B-sides and more.

Michigander's debut, self-titled full-length album is packed full of hooky earworms with insatiable choruses that you'll be singing along with the first time you hear the songs.

Michigander's Jason Singer is one of the greatest humans I've ever had the chance to chat with - and this is the third time we've had this opportunity. We talk about songwriting, working with co-writers, social media and podcasts in this episode.

https://www.michiganderband.com/

https://breakerbox.podbean.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chipmidnight_journalist/

Members of the San Diego band Mrs. Henry drop by for a post-holiday discussion about their epic concept album, Keep on Rising, and discuss their The Band tribute act, Chest Fever.

Guests: Daniel Cervantes, Blake Dean, Jody Bagley

Music heard on this episode comes from Mrs. Henry's Keep on Rising - https://mrshenry.bandcamp.com/album/keep-on-rising

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chipmidnight_journalist/

With a new album - his first in 10 years - hitting streaming services and stores, Sebastian Bach joins me on this episode to talk about Child Within the Man, his vinyl collection, the inspiration for the song "Hard Darkness," his favorite new song ("(Hold On) To The Dream"), why he doesn't stick with a consistent band lineup and what fans should expect when they come to see him live.

https://www.sebastianbach.com/

Stewart Copeland opens up about the influx of Police-related projects in 2023 — including two albums and a book — which he sees as an opportunity to create space for pursuing his other passions in the upcoming year. In this interview with the legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer, Copeland delves into his deep affection for composing orchestral pieces, shares the emotions evoked when encountering The Police’s music unexpectedly, and discloses his keen interest in keeping tabs on the current endeavors of both Sting and Andy Summers.

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For all things Stewart Copeland visit https://www.stewartcopeland.net/

Watch this interview on the CHIP CHATS YouTube channel - https://youtu.be/icVhAHPcEtQ?si=vjvALInJqQDX8QA1

With an illustrious five-decade, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career as one half of the Hall and Oates duo coming to an end, John Oates discusses how writing and recording his own material has made music fun again. Oates has a handful of sold-out tour dates to end the year and he shares what fans should expect from these shows, from how he'll tell stories behind the songs to what might be on the setlist.

www.johnoates.com

www.instagram.com/chipmidnight_journalist

A bucket list interview, I had the chance to chat with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Andy Summers of The Police on my birthday. Andy released a coffee table book of his photographs called A Series of Glances during the summer of 2023 and has spent time on the road doing a mixed-media performance including music, storytelling and sharing photos from his collection.

For tour dates and more info, visit www.andysummers.com