Crash and Ride

J Christopher Arrison is a guitar player, songwriter, singer, writer for Adult Swim, and a friend I have known for 30 years (!!). His band Trinket had one of the most star-crossed record deals of all time, and the story is all here. Even with that bit of bleakness, this is one of the funniest episodes of Crash and Ride ever, and I'm super proud of it.

You can see and hear his work for Fish Center on his Bandcamp: https://murderwizard.bandcamp.com/album/fish-cuts-vol-4

If we ever get to go see live music again, you can see Saved By The Band at Venkman's:

https://venkmans.com/event/saved-by-the-band/

You can read his essay about his former wife's journey through cancer surgery here:

https://www.salon.com/2012/07/20/my_wifes_brain_surgery/

This is the second half of my interview with Brad Wood, engineer and producer from Rockford, Illinois, now living in Los Angeles. We talk more about trying to make a living in music these days, MORE about bikes, and we get into the Crash and Ride 10 Questions. If you haven't heard pt 1, check out Episode 67 on the Patreon Page, or just search for Crash and Ride, Episode 67 on your favorite podcast app! You can hear Brad's work here: http://www.bradwoodmusic.com/

Brad Wood is an engineer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist from Rockford, Illinois. He was the producer of the groundbreaking Liz Phair 'Exile in Guyville' and went on produce records by Red Red Meat, Veruca Salt, Ben Lee, and dozens of others. We talk about the year on the road where he played drums behind a deeply ambivalent Liz Phair, we talk about the role that anxiety, depression, and mania can play in the life of a musician, we talk about what he perceives his role to be in the studio, and lord god do we go off on a tangent about bikes. We both love bikes a lot. We talked so much I decided to split this episode in two! You can hear the rest later this week! You can hear samples of his work at his website here: http://www.bradwoodmusic.com/

In a good year, Hannah Aldridge is one of the hardest working musicians in the business. She tours constantly, is always writing, recording, and releasing new work. In the past four years, she's spent more time in Europe than any performer I know. She never stops.

That is to say, she never stops *in a good year*. 2020 is not a good year. I caught up with Hannah by calling her apartment in Murfreesboro and we talked for HOURS; Two salty workhorse musicians who found themselves unexpectedly sidelined by a global health crisis. We talked about the relentless nature of hand-to-mouth touring. We talked about never being satisfied with how far we've come, and trying to feel worthy of the work. We talked about trying to tour and parent at the same time. It felt like we'd known each other for decades.

You can hear her music here, including her live album that just came out in 2020:

https://hannahaldridge.bandcamp.com/

For Episode 65 I finally got to talk to David Pajo. David was, of course, the incredibly influential guitar player in the band Slint,. David later went on to play with Will Oldham, The For Carnation, Tortoise, Stereolab, Royal Trux, King Kong, Bush League, Zwan, Peggy Honeywell, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and, most recently, Interpol. Despite his incredibly prolific musical career, he still struggled with depression. In the winter of 2015, he attempted to take his own life. As a survivor he has made it his mission to talk frankly and openly about his depression and how grateful he is that he survived. I am so happy that we had this conversation. We talked about how Slint's record 'Spiderland' absolutely spun out a generation of indie rock nerds like me, about our mutual friend Lance Bangs, about his life since his suicide attempt, and about espresso for maybe longer than anyone could possible care about.

Edward Burch is a singer/songwriter who lives in St Louis. He was a longtime collaborator of Jay Bennett of Titanic Love Affair and Wilco, right up to the end of Jay's life. They had a long and fruitful creative partnership that weathered years of struggle, depression and frustration, drugs, and thousands of miles of touring. We talk about the record that they made together, The Palace at 4AM, and the documentary that was made about Jay's life. It's an extraordinary story.

Mary-Eleanor Joyce is a guitar player and drummer who has played in Maximum Busy Muscle, Shitty Candy and the Circus Peanuts, the incredibly influential Athens band Incindiaries, and her new project, Sewer Kitty. She's also a mother and a devoted daughter, which is why I wanted to talk to her: A lot of Gen X musicians have waited late in life to start families, only to find themselves raising young children while balancing caring for aging parents. Her father was in managed care for years before we sat down to talk. Then he passed away the morning of the day of our interview. Mary Eleanor still wanted to talk, though, so I went to her house with a very long mic cable and we sat on the back porch while the cicadas and the crickets sang all around us, and she told me all about what she was feeling and what it meant, and it was just amazing. You can hear Incidiaries here: https://thisisincendiaries.bandcamp.com/album/give-me-a-reason You can hear Maximum Busy Muscle here: https://maximumbusymuscle.bandcamp.com/

Episode 62 is a very satisfyingly long interview with Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven, Monks of Doom, The Third Mind, his incredible solo work). Victor and I met when my band opened for Monks of Doom back when the Earth was still cooling, and he impressed me then as an incredibly talented and genuinely insightful guy. We talk about the stress of having success sort of thrust upon you, fighting to have boundaries in an industry whose default model is to chew up artists and spit them into ditches, and the importance of dogs. You can check out Victor's solo work and Monks of Doom on his website here: http://www.victorkrummenacher.com/

I have been waiting for this interview since the very beginning. I absolutely love the work of Will Johnson, from the very beginning with his band Centro-Matic right up through his most recent solo release 'Wire Mountain,' and the million-and-a-half collaborations and releases in between, Will does absolutely tremendous work. We talk about how he's holding up under quarantine, the years he had in Centro-Matic, the decision to take that band off the road, and the work he's done since. You can check out Will's work here: http://will-johnson.com/ [photo: Sean Dunn]

Spencer Thomas is an egregiously talented singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from Jackson, Mississippi. His new album 'Hangin' Tough' is an 10-song meditation on depression and love. He was formerly the drummer for the band Young Valley and is currently packing up to relocate to Athens, GA. We talked about his new album, his workaholism, battling imposter syndrome, and Betty Lou, the Greatest Dog Ever.

photo: Drew McKercher