Mitten Backstage

I'm joined today by Nathan Coles! We've known each other for awhile now, since our undergrad studies at GVSU, and we play together in a trio called Normal Mode. He also is a freelance drummer for various groups, musicals, and he works for Black Swamp Percussion, a company specializing in orchestral equipment like snare drums and tambourines.

I got to catch up with my old boss and multi-faceted friend in the Michigan music scene, Morgan Haner! When I worked at Founders Brewing Company, Morgan trained all of the sound engineers on our team, repaired and sourced all of the tech needed for shows, and more behind the scenes. He also is a performing singer and guitarist with a new album dropping on June 11th, 2021!

Today's guest is Sam Pilnick, a saxophonist, educator, and composer that I met during our mutual time studying at Western Michigan University and living in Kalamazoo! We chat about music education, composition, and Sam's new nonet project album being released this summer!

I'm joined today by Ian Thompson, a bassist/educator in Grand Rapids, MI that I've been playing with on various gigs over the past few years. You can hear his work with such groups as Cameron Blake, BlueWater Kings Band, and Normal Mode, a new jazz/lo-fi/spacey trio project we play in together!  

Evan "Woots" Wouters joins us today for a wonderful chat about his upcoming album, "Keep Up," that drops this Saturday, May 22nd! He put in a ton of work and over 2 years of studio sessions and wrangling collaborators to make this release.   

It's always a pleasure to chat with Steve Leaf, a man of many talents and countless quips. This one went off the rails in the best way, and it adds to all of the reasons you should check out his art and follow him straight to The Cone Zone.

I had a great time chatting with Mike Schertenlieb! He's a solid dude to have in your corner, a thoughtful musician, and a hard-working, tirelessly-supportive individual that plays drums for all sorts of Muskegon-based projects, including Flexadecibel. You can regularly see him on social media posting about his process as a writer and performer.

Happy to have had some time to chat with Randall Erno this week! He's had a wide variety of experiences being in the Michigan music scene, from touring with different bands to working on festivals. We did some chatting before his group, Biomassive, hits the road for a few outdoor dates around the Midwest and South.   

I catch up with James Knoerl, a multifaceted drummer who rises to every occasion on his instrument. We initially met at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, when he and a mutual friend, Detroit bassist Matt Ryan, were playing Liquid Tension Experiment covers in our cabin for "fun." He can write, record, produce, and film all things related to his skills on a drum kit, and there are a host of bands he has and continues to perform with on the East Coast and around the world. He plays for Aviations, Brand of Sacrifice, and Gargoyl, and he has subbed for bands like Threat Signal and The Faceless on tour. He graduated from the Berklee School of Music, has produced his own music, and has traveled with Carnival Cruiselines.