Performance Anxiety

Today’s guest is a fan of birds. Not really. I don’t know. He’s been in two bands named after birds, so maybe. Welcome guitarist Arad Evans to the podcast. I think Arad may be my first Alaskan on the podcast. Now he wasn’t born there, but he did grow up there. He tells me what got him into music and what kind of music scene there was in 1970’s and early 80’s Anchorage. 

Arad moved to New York City specifically to play contemporary, avant garde music. Well, he was pretty successful. His first gig was with the legendary experimental composer Glenn Branca. In fact, Arad played with Glenn until his passing in 2018. 

Arad has played in several bands. He talks about one that was inspired by Captain Beefheart and Alaska. This band, Heroes of Toolik, is so unique. Arad said the premise of the band was making a conscious effort to not make a conscious effort.

His new band, kind of new, is called The Whimbrels and the lineup is stellar! In addition to Arad, there’s Norman Westberg and Luke Schwartz on guitar, Steve Dibenedetto on drums, and Matt Hunter on bass. Their debut, self-titled album is out and is so catchy. With so many experimental artists in the band, you might think it’s an avant garde album. But it’s wonderfully accessible, no matter if you like experimental music or not. Check it out on Dromedary Records. Follow The Whimbrels on social media and keep an eye out for live dates. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on socials. Grab our merch at performanceanx.threadless.com. Send money through ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. Now I hope you enjoy this chat with Arad Evans of The Whimbrels on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today is a regular guy who happens to do a lot of creative stuff! Welcome Robert Scheffler to the podcast. Robert started on guitar after finding the one his mom had when she tried to take up the instrument. He played in school, he played in cover bands (because where he was living, no one wanted originals), he played solo gigs. He played supper clubs where you had to compete with food for the attention of the audience. He joined a band and enjoyed playing. But he also started freelance writing and researching. Soon, the music started taking a backseat to what was paying the bills. He found himself writing and playing less and less, until he finally stopped.

He started writing humor full time and did that for about 20 years. He didn’t put music away completely, though. He’d sequester himself in a cabin and try to write. He did some composing for short films. Robert explains who and what got him back into writing, what it’s like to have a good song in a bad movie, and we take a detour through our mutual love of the mighty Led Zeppelin.

We do bring it all back around and talk about his latest album, Truce. It’s my favorite in his catalog. Robert reveals the novelist who inspired his new musical outlook. We also talk about the furniture he creates. Go check his music out on streaming platforms. You can also check that and his furniture at robertschefflermusic.com. That’s also got his socials. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on socials, buy merch at performanceanx.threadless.com or just send money to ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. Now let’s get into this chat with the might Robert Scheffler on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This guest is the very definition of resilience. Please welcome singer/songwriter Willie Nile. He has a new album out called The Great Yellow Light that shows Willie is still in top form. But he has a long, storied career and that’s where we get started. He reveals that music has run in the family for generations! 

He went to college because the school needed people in the dorms. It was in the middle of nowhere and there was nothing to do, so he started learning how to play the guitar. He moved to New York City to start his music career and set himself apart by just being true to himself. Well, mostly. He did go through a series of nom de plumes like Umberto Snortz & Osgood Pequad before settling on Willie Nile.

His debut was critically acclaimed. But when he got sick after his sophomore album, he couldn’t perform and stepped away from music for a decade. He released another album and then stepped away again. He decided to give music one more shot in 1999 and has been putting out great music ever since. His new album has some great cameos and rocks pretty damn hard. Check it out wherever you stream music or buy a physical copy from Bandcamp or willienile.com. Follow his socials, they’re easy to find. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on socials. Grab merch at performanceanx.threadless.com or just send money to ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. Now please enjoy Willie Nile on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest hates traffic as much as I do. Plus he helped invent an entire genre of music. Welcome David J. Haskins to the podcast. He has a new album out, but you may also recognize him from his previous bands, Bauhaus and Love And Rockets. His love of music began with reggae and sneaking into clubs when he was a kid. His biggest inspirations were Bowie, Marc Bolan, and Roxy Music. He started off playing guitar but switched to bass when music started getting serious.

Daid talks about early bands and getting banned from venues. He also reveals when and how he switched to fretless bass. It’s a pretty funny story. He also talks about writing Bauhaus’ most well-known song, Bela Lugosu’s Dead. Once Bauhaus ended, Love and Rockets begins. David discusses that transition and where the bands broke first.

David has had an impressive solo career and he has a new album, The Mother Tree. It’s a unique album, both in its concept and its execution. The album is beautiful and touching. It also has a companion book of poetry. Go to davidjhaskins.com to grab both. Check out his social media links while you’re there. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on socials. Pick up merch at performanceanx.threadless.com or just send us money at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. And I hope you enjoy David J. Haskins on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This guest just blew me away on every front imaginable. Welcome drummer David Abbruzzese to the show. If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably because he was in the biggest band in the world at what I consider their peak. Dave played drums for Pearl Jam from 1991 to 1994. For me, this was when the band could do no wrong. But, as David tells me, there was a lot of crazy stuff going. That includes a cursed music video that was so bad it was not only trashed, it almost destroyed Dave’s musical career! But that’s jumping ahead.

Dave joins me from a distant time zone, just after a dental procedure. But he was kind enough to hang with me for a couple of hours. A lot happened between his birth and Pearl Jam, so Dave sheds a little light on that. Once we get to the Pearl Jam years, Dave tells some incredible stories, like how he got the job, the time he met Spinal Tap, that cursed video, and some stories behind some favorite songs.

Dave is also candid about how he was let go from the band and what he’s been up to since. He’s worked with some incredible artists in Green Romance Orchestra, Guns N Roses, Peter Cornell, Shawn Smith, and the two folks who helped connect me with Dave, Jeff Fielder and Scott Reeder; thank you, both! Follow Dave on Facebook, on Instagram @davidabbruzzese1968, Free Ass Records on YouTube, and on Bandcamp. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on socials. Grab merch at performanceanx.threadless.com. Send money to ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. Please enjoy my discussion with David Abbruzzese on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest is a family favorite. That means I’m talking with Erika Wennerstrom from Heartless Bastards. There are times when I’m completely blown away that an artist agrees to be a guest on this podcast and this is one of those moments. But Erika was and is incredibly kind and gracious. We start off like we usually do, talking about what got her into music. It turns out that she knew she was going to be a singer by around the age of four. 

We talk about early bands, like Shesus, the transformation from a shy, awkward person to fronting a band, and how she came up with the name Heartless Bastards.

The band’s sound has evolved over the course of six albums. Erika talks about struggling with writer’s block, stepping back from the band to regroup, and doing her solo album. 

After a brief tangent on designed obsolescence, Erika  pulls the curtain back on the latest Heartless Bastards album, A Beautiful Life. Disney and James Bond were influences to a few songs and Laurel Canyon asserts its influence. 

Erika is full of great stories, like how Patrick Kearney of The Black Keys ended up with her demos, growing up with The Ohio Players (at least one of them), and swinging by Robert Plant’s house to pick him up for drinks (he had shotgun, of course).

Erika is currently writing music for the next Heartless Bastards album so keep following their social media accounts and theheartlessbastards.com for updates. Follow us @PerformanceAnx. Pick up merch at performanceanx.threadless.com. Or just give us money at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. And I hope you’re as excited for this one as I was. It’s Erika Wennerstrom of Heartless Bastards on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s guest makes me just want to have fun. No, it’s not Cyndi Lauper. But he did play with her for years. Welcome multi-instrumentalist Knox Chandler to the show. He moved around a lot as a kid, so music really meant a lot to him. His parents told him that he used to hug the stereo speakers when he was a toddler. He studied guitar and upright bass in college. But his cello playing got him just as much work as anything else. The funny part about that is he never technically learned how to formally play the cello. It began on a whim from Richard Butler of The Psychedelic Furs. From that, we’ll call it a suggestion, Knox learned how to play the cello night after night, live in front of thousands of Psychedelic Furs fans. 

That turned into playing cello for R.E.M. on Automatic For The People, among other amazing credits. Knox also tells a hilarious story about how he met Cyndi Lauper in the studio and then got heckled by her at a live show that night.

He’s got a bunch of projects in the works and one that he just completed. It’s his multi-media release called The Sound. It’s a beautiful, instrumental album that was inspired by friends, tech, and fly-fishing. Check it out on all the streaming platforms or buy the multi-media version from knoxchandlermusic.com or Bandcamp. His website also has links to his socials. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on socials. Buy merch at performanceanx.threadless.com. Send money through ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. Here’s Knox Chandler on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of Side Projects features a duo of duos: Charming Disaster and Lung. So naturally, we started the show by discussing musical duos. Somehow we wrapped everything up by talking about sad kazoo music. I don’t know how we got there. It really doesn’t matter because this episode goes completely off the rails very quickly. But that’s why it’s so much fun.

We do talk about drum shoes, setting microphones on fire, and new albums for both Charming Disaster and Lung. Charming Disaster’s is out and about and Lung’s will be released shortly. Give them both follows @charmingdisasterband and @lungtheband. Follow us @PerformanceAnx. Buy merch at performanceanx.threadless.com or just throw money at us at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. Now brace yourselves for whatever this episode is; because I’m not sure.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everything about today’s guest is unusual. From writing his first song (which he performed at his high school graduation, unbeknownst to anyone but him) to being in the cast of Stomp before joining O.A.R., to the way he plays guitar, nothing about MikelParis fits into a neat description; with one exception. He’s a great guy! He pursued acting before music and played piano in Europe for a year before moving to NYC and joining Stomp. After that, he wound up playing with Pink for a year. Then he found himself auditioning for a band he never heard of called O.A.R. 

Much like the rest of his life, this was unconventional. But 20 years later, he’s still there!

He’s developed his own unique style of playing guitar that he’s dubbed guitar drumming. He tells how that came about and how Folger’s coffee played a part.

He’s released the first in a series of albums. This one is aptly titled, GuitarDrumming 01. It’s got some great cameos in it and the music is so unique. Give him a follow @mikelparis on social media. Listen on Spotify and check socials for tour dates for Mikel and O.A.R.

Follow us @PerformanceAnx on socials, get merch at perfprmanceanx.threadless.com. Send money to ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety and now I’m excited to present MikelParis on PerformanceAnxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This guest never sits still. Welcome guitarist Zak Loy. If you’re in the Austin, TX area, you might know him from any number of bands or projects like Damesviolet, Alpha Rev, Mother’s Anthem, and more. If you like classic alternative rock from the 90’s, you may have seen him playing guitar for the band Live and he was kind enough to take a break during the final stages of his new solo album, Dinero, to talk about his career.

He started playing guitar at age eight but didn’t graduate to playing in bars until he was the ripe old age of thirteen. 

He formed his first band, Damesviolet, with his brother Beaux and that was it. He’s been working non-stop ever since. He’s played in Alpha Rev so often that I accidentally praised him for someone else’s guitar solo. But in my defense, he IS credited on the album. Zak tells me how he met and started working with Ed Kowalczyk and how it evolved from Ed’s solo tours to playing rhythm in the back for Live to being the lead guitarist and Ed’s right hand man. He also talks about the unique challenges of playing in a legendary band.

As I mentioned, Zak has a new solo album coming out called Dinero. Pre-order it through zakloy.com or wherever you get music these days. Follow him @zakloy26 on Instagram. Follow us @PerformanceAnx. Merch is available at performanceanx.threadless.com. Support our caffeine supply at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. And now, one of the only guests with a shorter name than me, Zak Loy, on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices