Having A Blast with Kyle Devlin

Hey there friends, I hope you all are doing well and having a wonderful and productive day. 

I am very excited because today, I'm speaking with my friend Mr. Danny Freeman. 

Danny is in the UK pop punk alternative band A Few Too Many. He is the guitarist/co-vocalist for the band. Danny is also the founder and curator of the FB group The Pop Punk Networking Group. 

I wanted to have Danny on for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to know what it was like being in a band across the pond in 2021. Especially considering how many bands have been popping up from that area infiltrating and inspiring the scene. 

I also wanted to know how Danny became such a networker and why that is such an important element when a person decides to do anything in this life. I wanted to know what inspired that. 

A Few Too Many was recently signed to Lost Music Collective co-founded by Vinnie Fiorello, the previous drummer of Less Than Jake and one of the co-founders of Fueled by Ramen Records. We talk about that, Fall Out Boy, and what it's like to get on the same page in a creative endeavor.

It's a fun listen, I know you'll take away something from this conversation. So, without further ado, please enjoy my wide-ranging conversation with Mr. Danny Freeman.

On today's episode, I'm extremely excited to be chatting with another Drive Thru Records Alum, Mr. Rob Freeman, guitarist, co-singer, and primary songwriter for the band Hidden In Plain View.

My first memory of hearing Hidden in Plain View was with the Valencia guys on tour with them back in the early 2000's. I think I actually had a brief exchange with Rob back then about potentially playing some shows.

Rob owns and works at Audio Pilot Studio and Production as a record producer, recording various up and coming artists. I was just looking at their website and the studio looks like a beautiful space to work in, so if you're needing some production, you can contact them directly on their site.

Rob has produced albums for Hit The Lights, Armor for Sleep, Hidden in Plain View, Parade the Day, Thief Club, and many others.

I really appreciate him for taking the time to chat with me today. Hidden in Plain View's record "Life in Dreaming" is one of my favorite records and one that I revisit often.

We talk about that particular period of time in his life amongst other things involving production, and exercise for mental health. I think you'll enjoy it.

Without further ado, please enjoy my wide ranging conversation with Mr. Rob Freeman.

On today's episode, I'm speaking with my friend Michael Hollins. Mike is the owner of TDR Records.

TDR Records began in the mid-2000's when Mike began releasing his band's music. Eventually he began working with other bands.

TDR has had several vinyl releases from bands like Punchline, The Early November, Over It, The Promise Hero, The Prize Fight, Yellowbird Mantra, Barely Blind, and many more.

We discuss what it's like to run a record label in 2021, as well as reminisce about the scene in the early 2000's. I think everyone can take away from the example Mike has set with his ability to network, cultivate relationships, and ultimately establish friendships that span years and years.

I had a great time chatting with Mike. Enjoy!

In today's episode, I talk about five bands that I didn't love upon first listen, but eventually loved. I didn't quite understand the charm, brilliance, and creative genius of the five bands listed until I really dug deep. In a few instances, I went back and revisited the band's back catalogue, and that is where I discovered that I did in fact love the band.

The bands mentioned are:

1. Alkaline Trio

2. Smoking Popes

3. Taking Back Sunday

4. Glassjaw

5. Armor For Sleep

As you'll hear, I learned the error of my ways, and I love all of these bands dearly now. Please don't think less of me. Enjoy this episode.

Today I talk with my friend Mike Henneberger. Mike is the author of "Rock Bottom at the Renaissance, An Emo Kid's Journey Through Falling in and out of Love in and With New York City".

Before Mike Henneberger was an Emmy-winning producer with credits from Comedy Central, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Spin, and Vice, he was just another lost soul in New York City, stumbling down a path paved by mental illness, and littered with pieces of a broken heart and a broken mind.

Rock Bottom at the Renaissance: An Emo Kid's Journey Through Falling In and Out of Love In and With New York City is Mike's mixtape memoir that follows those pieces through a mental breakdown that spanned his first years as a Texas transplant in NYC, brainwashed by the New York romance that films, TV, books, and music, sold him.

Much of Rock Bottom At The Renaissance is set in a hotel room during a debaucherous weekend of self-imposed isolation and self-destructive introspection, and navigates the dark tunnels of Henneberger's booze and drug-addled mind, it's larger in scope - taking in much of his past. Henneberger tells of his south Texas childhood defined by divorce, sibling rivalry, and an instability that forced him to navigate the most important years of a young man's life without a compass. He takes us through his minor successes - touring in bands, launching a magazine, and performing stand-up comedy - as he begins to wonder if the sense of confidence instilled by them is actually delusion. We get a glimpse into his time in the U.S. Army, which was meant to increase his sense of purpose, but only increased his chemical dependencies and triggered mental illness. At the heart of the book, are Henneberger's quest to find love and his relationship with music and the power that it has to get us through life's toughest moments.

Despite the sense of abject loneliness and the existential dread coursing through its sentences, there is a great deal of hope within these pages. Partly that's through the history conveyed by Henneberger, which reveals who he is, how he ended up in that situation and the clarity of purpose that comes as past and present weave together to turn a broken, lost person into someone with purpose and optimism.

The Dangerous Summer and Bayside are just two of many bands - including Jimmy Eat World, The Smoking Popes, Bright Eyes, Death Cab For Cutie, Alkaline Trio, Mayday Parade, and The Wonder Years - whose songs feature prominently in Rock Bottom At The Renaissance as lyrics appear as a soundtrack to the chapters. Because music, and those bands in particular, are crucial to Henneberger overcoming his demons.

The redemption and salvation in these songs is undeniable, but there's more to this memoir.  It is, as Henneberger puts it, about "romanticizing New York City and letting your ideas guide you rather than reality" and the detrimental results. It's about being in love with the person you think will make you whole and coming to terms with the fact that they never will - nor would have done. That's something Henneberger navigated - viscerally, painfully - in that hotel, but also something he contends with in the narratives that surround that moment, and flashes that look back and forward.

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