Having A Blast with Kyle Devlin

Hey there friends!

On today's episode, I'm excited to be speaking with Mr. Aaron Friesen, co-host of the podcast "Growing Up Punk".

I've been listening to Growing Up Punk now for a while, I'm a fan of their show.

When I first started Having a Blast, Aaron reached out to me and gave me some encouraging words and I really appreciated that.

I figured we'd have a lot in common seeing as how we are the same age, and we grew up loving the same types of music and bands.

Aaron and I cover a lot of topics in this episode.

He was the drummer in the band Means, and we talk a little bit about playing in bands, making time to play our instruments, as well as touring.

We also talk about transitioning away from being in a band and doing other things like podcasting.

We also dive into the new "resurgence" of pop punk, what our thoughts are, and what we're excited about with bands and albums coming up.

I had a lot of fun chatting with Aaron, it was great to learn more about him and hear about his process.

So without further ado, please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with Aaron from Growing Up Punk.

Everynight Fire Works is the debut album by American rock band Hey Mercedes. Following the demise of Braid, most of the members formed Hey Mercedes, with guitarist Mark Dawursk joining in early 2000. The band released a self-titled EP through Polyvinyl Record Co., before signing to Vagrant Records at the end of the year. They recorded their debut with Burning Airlines member J. Robbins at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota in April 2001. Everynight Fire Works is an alternative rock, emo, indie rock and pop punk record that drew comparisons to Burning Airlines, Jets to Brazil, and Shudder to Think.

Everynight Fire Works was announced for release shortly after recording, but was delayed a few times distribution troubles or legal issues that Vagrant was having. It was eventually released on October 23, where it was met with a mixed-to-positive reaction from music critics, with some commenting on the group's maturity and guitar work, as well as Nanna's vocals. Sometime after release, Dawursk left the band and was replaced with Michael Shumaker, and drummer Damon Atkinson spent some time touring with Saves the Day. The band went on two stints of the US, one as part of the Vagrant America arena tour, with other acts on the label. In all, Everynight Fire Works was promoted with over 200 shows.

On today's episode, I give a retrospective look and deep dive into New Found Glory's Self-Titled album.

Hey there, friends!

Welcome to the show. I hope you all are doing well out there beyond Podcast Land.

Tonight, I'm going to be debuting a new format for the show called "Flashback Fridays".

Every Friday, I'm going to be highlighting an album that I not only love, but believe deserves more love, more credit, and a bit more of an audience.

After all, this is a music podcast, primarily, so I thought this would be fun. Perhaps you've already heard of this band, or maybe you love this album already and it's been a while since you've given it a proper spin in your car with the windows down. We're approaching Summer, so it doesn't hurt to have some lesser known hidden gems available.

I'm going to start with the year 2000, and I'm going to work my way up all the way to 2020. After that I may do some 90's releases that I don't think get enough attention, but we'll have fun with this.

Tonight, the first album I'd like to highlight is Ace Troubleshooter, the self-titled debut album from the band with the same name.

Ace Troubleshooter, often shortened to Ace, was an American pop punk band. Formed in December 1995 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, they released five albums. This first album was officially released on BEC Recordings and their next two records were released on Tooth & Nail Records. And those two records are great as well.

Ace Troubleshooter is the third studio album by American pop punk band Ace Troubleshooter and their debut on BEC. The album was recorded at the Blasting Room with Bill Stevenson and Stephen Egerton of Descendents/All.

My first band played a few show with Ace in Minnesota, and we also stayed with Ben, their bass player when we went up there. Those guys were a lot of fun, we really had a good time playing shows with them.

I remember they owned a bus that they bought from a country music artist, and the only one in the band who could legally drive it was the drummer.

John, the singer, eventually went on to play bass for Relient K. You can hear his voice on the song "Let it all out".

Their first record is a really fun, fast, punchy pop-punk record that kind of came out of nowhere and it makes sense that it was recorded at The Blasting Room. It still sounds great. The guitars, the vocals, the drums... It doesn't sound like a record that's 21 years old. It's one that I revisit and I think you should check it out, if you haven't heard it.

This is the first song off of the album, it's called SE 101.

Okay, I hope you are all doing fantastically well this weekend. Let me know what you think of this format. Maybe you can recommend some records to me for future Nostalgia Fridays. Talk to you soon! Take care.

Hey there friends!

On today's episode, I'm really excited because I'm speaking with my friend Christie Gee.

Christie Gee is many things, one of which is the podcast host for her show The Christie Gee Podcast. She's interviewed some amazing artists like Chris Carrabba from Dashboard Confessional, Kris Roe of The Ataris, Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids, and many more.

She's also an extremely creative person, she's an artist who does custom portraits for folks, as well as a maker of buttons, stickers, pins, and art. She's even worked on some album art which is really cool.

I started following her a few years ago on social media, and I've always enjoyed her enthusiasm for all things 90's, but also because she's a fan of pop punk and emo of the 90's and into the 2000's.

I love that she's a big fan of Empire Records as that's one of my favorite movies that I grew up with and it makes total sense that she's making buttons that not only honor that film but pays tribute to so many different bands and things.

We talk about growing up in a small town in Texas, moving to California, embracing country music, selling stuff to celebrities, doing creative work, and pursuing your dreams despite all the naysayers and doubters.

It was an absolute pleasure speaking with Christie. I really do think we could talk about this stuff for hours. I had a lot of fun.

So, without further ado, please enjoy this wide-ranging and fun convo with Christie Gee.

Hey there friends!

I hope you are all doing well out there beyond podcast land.

I'm very excited, on todays episode, I'm speaking with my buddy Johnny Hamlin.

Johnny and I connected on social media last year. We talked about fitness originally and it was shortly after that in which I realized that I had been listening to Johnny's band Lights Over Bridgeport for a few months.

Nick Deiner from The Swellers had posted about the band because he produced their newest record "Better This Way" and I loved the record.

Lights Over Bridgeport is a band from south Chicago. They put out one of my favorite records of 2020, so definitely go check it out, if you haven't already.

Over time, I noticed that Johnny was really into lifting, I'd see him doing some impressive weight on social media, and we'd chat periodically about fitness and music, so I knew I wanted to get him on the podcast. And we talk about fitness and what that has meant to Johnny. We talk about his band, working with Nick, and we also talk about the Chicago music scene. We also talk about our shared love of Fat Wreck Chords, Epitaph Records, Propagandhi, Strung Out, Face to Face, Jimmy Eat World, The Misfits, Hum, and others.

I had a lot of fun chatting with Johnny, I feel like we're kindred spirits. Johnny strikes me as a hardworking, humble guy. Very appreciative of what he and his band mates have been to do and accomplish and I admire that.

So, without further ado, please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with Mr. Johnny Hamlin, guitarist and vocalist for Lights Over Bridgeport.

My name is Kyle Devlin. I love music obviously.

I'm a personal trainer during the day. I have an online nutrition/fitness/mindset coaching company called Better Self. I run it with my partner. She's a much better coach than I am.

I love personal development, fitness, strength training, healthy nutrition, investing, routine, Star Wars, The Simpsons, Lots of pop culture from the 80's and 90's. My favorite movie of all time is Raiders of the Lost Ark. I've probably seen it 200 times and I'm sure I'll watch it 200 more times if I'm allowed.

I don't really care about owning lots of stuff. I like experiencing things. Talking to new people on this podcast. I have another podcast that I do with my partner Pamela and we talk more about nutrition/fitness/ and mindset. It's called The Better Self Project.

I'm 37 years old currently. As of right now, the average American lives to be 79 years old. So I've got about 42 years left and that is not lost on me. I think it's good to live life urgently, while also remembering to savor the good moments and aim to stay present when it counts.

My goal with the podcast is to talk to people who REALLY want to talk. I want to talk to people who are excited to talk. I will gladly speak with the singer of any band, but they are often the ones who get asked for interviews. I'd love to speak with drummers, bassists, guitarists, producers, tour managers, techs, photographers, labels, etc.

If you've listened to any of the Having A Blast episodes, I really appreciate it. I hope you've enjoyed them. I'm grateful for you.

Feel free to reach out if you'd like. My handle on Instagram is Kyle_Devlin__, my Facebook is facebook.com/kyle.a.devlin

I hope you all are doing fantastically well out there. I've got some fun interviews coming up soon. Excited to keep doing it.

On today's episode, I'm excited because I'm talking about the differences of two genres of music: The ones in which we spend a great deal talking about on this particular podcast: Pop punk and emo.

I've gotta give credit to my partner for coming up with this topic, because she was the one who asked the question and then suggested that I talk about it on an episode of Having a Blast.

It was in my attempt to answer the question that I recognized... Oh, this is a bit of a loaded topic. But at the same time, I don't know if I have a clue as to what the answer is.

I gave my initial thoughts. Pop punk is generally happier sounding. Emo is relatively more somber and melancholy. But is that an accurate representation? Does Clarity feel sad or happy to me? Does Crimson feel happy or sad to me? Does "make damn sure" feel sad to me? Does "I miss you" by Blink feel happy to me?

This is where it gets complicated.

So here we go. I decided to outsource to my FB friends and get their feedback on this question: What is the difference between Pop punk and Emo?

There's no way I could have predicted the amount of responses I got, and honestly, I think I could get a lot more if I deliberately asked some specific people.

I wanted to share their thoughts on the podcast. So, I hope you'll enjoy getting some different perspectives.