The Curator Podcast

By Mark FraserTV & Film Arts Music

The Curator Podcast episodes

November 16, 2017 S2: 24 - Brendan Murphy from Counterparts Talks About Loving Metalcore, The Process Behind their New Album, How New Fans Keep Finding Them, The Way Old Fans Seem to be Growing Up with the Band, and How Useful Spotify for Artists Has Been
The new Counterparts album reminds me of being a teenager. When I was 16 I graduated from nu-metal to metalcore. I read a review of Alive of Just Breathing by Killswitch Engage in Kerrang! Magazine and subsequently purchased the record from a record store in Glasgow’s Savoy Centre that specialised in metal music. That record store no longer exists, and it could also be argued that neither do that version of KsE either.

My flatmate has been banging on about Counterparts for ages, and given his particular music taste, I was surprised that they were a metalcore band. Now, I know that they haven’t always been this kind of band, but as a new fan it was not at all what I expected.

As Brendan explains, this metalcore sound is not especially cool anymore, and whilst it may not have always been where the band wanted to go, for him it seemed like the most natural evolution, taking the information learned from past records and applying it to the new album. Stripping everything down to the component parts, refining and making sure it's the leanest, meanest, most direct Counterparts album yet. Unlike a lot of metalcore bands though, there is not an ounce of fat on You’re Not You Anymore – its' 27 solid minutes of tune after tune. Almost as if they’ve taken that hardcore punk sensibility from the older records, keeping things short, sweet and technical, and added in all the old early 00s metalcore these guys love in order to create something absolutely to the point.

Brendan is a super nice guy who still seems to be continually stunned that he’s doing this full time. Being able to make a living doing something you love is something that most of us strive for, so to see the smile on his face as he speaks about his fortunes, is wonderful.

We also get into how Spotify for Artists has helped them to see amazingly in depths stats about their fans and where they should tour next.

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25 min
November 02, 2017 S2 : 23 - The Return of Chris Cresswell from The Flatliners
Our previous interview can be found here.

It’s been a long year for the flatties. It’s not common to see foreign bands arrive on these shores twice in the space of six months, but boy am I glad it was these guys. I openly said it in the podcast and I’ll happily say it again – this band is one of my all time favourites. They always bring it live and on record. These guys are lifers through and through and it doesn’t seem like they’ll stop any time soon.

We also talk about the tenth anniversary of The Great Awake, which is ace.

The fear with interviewing the same person twice in a year is that you may not have anything to talk about the second time round. I’m chuffed to say that wasn’t the case here. Aside from being super busy with touring, Chris launched his own podcast called Carry the Banner. After the last interview we spoke briefly about his desire to do his own podcast, so it’s awesome that he finally bit the bullet and went for it. It’s real good, so do check it out wherever you get your podcasts.

From talking about the time he played guitar on The Decline with NOFX live on stage, to their rigorous tour schedule, we covered a love lot of ground in this chat. It was great to finally chat to someone with a huge profile about their love and desire for podcasts, and hopefully you find that portion of this conversation as engaging as I did.

Singers may also want to talk particular note of this podcast too as Chris and I talk about the rigours of looking after your voice, and body, whilst on the road.

I hope you enjoy this chat as much as I did.

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35 min
October 19, 2017 S2: 22 - Jordan Pundik from New Found Glory Talks About The Band's 20th Anniversary, Their New Album and More
What’s there left to say to Jordan Pundik? What is there left to say about New Found Glory? What is there left to even ask those guys?
It’s hard to find the words to talk about seminal bands sometimes. 20 years is a long time to be making music, and it’s remarkable when you realise that Jordan is still in his 30s. They’re a band who has literally seen and done it all. They’ve taken their music to the greatest heights, and achieved things most artists can only dream of.

Yet, and you’ll also get a sense of this from the interview, they remain incredibly humble. New Found Glory’s influence on pop punk cannot be overstated. Nearly all of the bands they play with these days have been inspired by them, from the likes of mega stars All Time Low, to their recent touring buddies Roam, and every other pop punk band in last decade. That kind of legacy is remarkable.
And to have been on the road that entire time is remarkable still. For this band, it very much is the case that they have grown up together on the road.

In this interview we have a good chat about what keeps the band going, if they’ve done a lot of reflecting because it’s their 20th anniversary, how things have changed over the years, the strangeness of doing an anniversary tour the same year they have new music out and a bunch more stuff

I hope you dig the interview.

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36 min
October 05, 2017 S2: 21 - Austin and Casey Getz from Turnover Discuss Growing Up on the Road, How Playing Live is the Best Yardstick for Measuring New Material, Rubbish Tour Vans and Lots More
I was worried I’d maybe taken on a little too much lately. Turns out I had. I missed an episode and I apologise for that.The good news is that I’ve managed to bank a bunch of interviews and ALSO start two new podcasts. Silver linings etc.Turnover are a great band. If you’ve made it this far, you probably already know this. If you don’t know that already, you’ve probably already guessed that’s why I interviewed them in the first place. Either way, their new album Good Nature is one of my favourite records of the year.Taking the melody from all your favourite emo bands and shooting it through with some Smiths-esque guitar tones and wonderful Beach Boys tinged vocals, the whole thing is a lovely, warm hug of a record. Austin and Casey Getz - singer/guitarist and drummer respectively –have toured a ton, written a lot, and basically lived the life of any other touring band for a number of years. They’re super chill guys, and enjoyed this wee chat we had together. We covered a lot of ground in such a short space of time, taking everything from the way people change as they grow up, how people change when they grow up on the road together, what it’s like being away from home and almost stuck in a bubble, the writing and recording process behind the new record a ton more. Hope you dig this interview as much as I did.
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30 min
September 08, 2017 S2: 20 - Outblinker Regale Us with Death Defying Tales from at Home and On the Road, What It's Like Now That They're a Four Piece and Discuss Why Their Album is Taking So Long
If there’s one thing to take away from this interview it’s that Outblinker have almost complete disregard for their personal safety. It’s not a bad thing. After this interview, I caught the band’s live set in Bloc, and the quasi-apocalyptic nature of their sound is given a whole new feeling when you hear the death defying tales of the band’s creative and touring lives.They’re also punishingly loud live. In this interview, they talk a bit about how it wasn’t until they were recording their last EP that they realised there was something missing from their sound. With that hole plugged, there’s a bruising aspect to their live show. The whole thing feels like an assault on the senses, but in the best possible way.Once you’ve experienced that and listened to the guys in this interview, it all sorta clicks into place.This was a really fun chat. I always approach multi-person interviews with a certain amount of sonic trepidation – I’m always worried the sound will be weird (and to be honest, it kind of is a little in this interview) – but when I actually sit down with a full band the chat is always so much fun. Maybe it’s time to upgrade the gear so I can get great sound quality from four or five people instead of one or two.So gather around, dear listener, and hear the tales of how a band love synths, touring Europe, practicing in the same building as an Orange Order band, and so much more baffling, but amusing, chat about what life is like in Outblinker.
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35 min
August 25, 2017 (Rebroadcast) 19 - B. Dolan
As B. Dolan and Sage Francis bring their latest Edinburgh Fringe Show Tricknology to an end, I felt it was time to revisit this interview with B. Dolan from back in October 2015. Enjoy.The Curator Podcast – Episode 19: B. DolanAs I get older I find myself growing to appreciate hip hop more and more. In my teens it didn’t grab me in the same way punk or metal did, and naively, I shunned it. My guest on this episode is rapper B. Dolan and he, alongside Sage Francis, was one of the artists who forced me to realign my expectations of what hip hop is, was and could be.The truth of the matter is that when your exposure to a particular genre of music comes solely from mainstream sources, it can be quite difficult to find something worthwhile. Like all teenagers, I rebelled, and in doing so I rebelled against the chart and dance music which was common in between my groups of friends in high school and in my neighbourhood. I took solace in the angst of “alternative” music.A lot of that chart music was hip hop and no, it wasn’t particularly good hip hop. As someone who had deliberately placed themselves outside of mainstream art, I found that when I looked back in to find some shred of meaning, all I could see were empty messages and a sense of disappointment.That’s not to say that it is impossible for popular music to carry a message. Now that I’m older I can see such a view is quite patently nonsense, but in the naivety of youth I certainly felt that.So in my teens, my flirtation and subsequent rejection of hip hop was the result of two things:A) to me, the stuff that was on the radio or on MTV had nothing to say to me. I was looking for something political, something which raged and had teeth. 50 Cent, Ja Rule, Nelly and the other hip hop that circulated when those artists were at their peak, was empty to me.B) I had no one to guide me. It was easy to find people who could introduce me to new rock music. Literally no one I knew had any inkling of hip hop beyond whatever was coming out of the radio that week.For many years I lived my life ignoring hip hop, thinking that it was all violence and misogyny.About ten years ago that changed. A friend opened me up to “underground” hip hop, with Sage Francis at the head it.At the risk of coming across like a snob, I’ve always found the entry point for hip hop music to be quite high. Perhaps it’s because I’m a snotty punk kid at heart – those short, sharp stabs of music are certainly designed to make you think, but the message is fleeting, it’s difficult to hold onto before you’re off onto the next song. A hip hop record is more layered and more complex, it demands the full investment of your time. It requires repeated listens and time to unfold in your head.But I appreciate them. I enjoy spending time with an album, deciphering lyrics and meanings, getting underneath the complexity of the music and living inside it.Prior to this interview it had been five years since I last saw B. Dolan play. Weirdly it was five years to the exact day, in the exact same venue. In that particular instance he was supporting Sage Francis, an artist who also happened to be responsible for introducing me to B. Dolan on Twitter some years before.Fallen House, Sunken City, which bizarrely only came out five years ago but it somehow feels longer, is an album which pulled me out of a musical slump I’d fallen into. It’s an awesome record, and one of my favourites. Although I do think his new one, Kill the Wolf, might usurp that.Highlights include:Getting into fights at the Westmoreland service stationA shout out to Passion of the WeissObession with musicAn almost encyclopedic knowledge of hip hopA little bit of PrinceRecording and producing ‘Kill the Wolf’B. Dolan’s evolution as a songwriterB. Dolan is a super nice guy, and to hear him close with The Hunter at the show later that night was a pretty huge deal for me. Also, Buddy Peace absolutely killed it. To see an MC and a DJ w...
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22 min
August 10, 2017 S2: 19 - Jonah Matranga Returns to Talk About Writing A Book, 20 Years of Touring in the UK and How to Check Your White Male Privilege
I knew that learning how to drive would make my life easier, but I didn’t know it’d also make podcasting easier. Yet here I am, fresh out of doing my second interview in my beaten up 2005 Ford Focus and I’m amazed at how good it sounds in there. Soft furnishings, man. I’m sure having doors that seal helps too.To wit - this is the second-time Jonah has been on this podcast (as you’ve probably gleaned by the title) which is super cool. I promise I’m not making a habit of bringing previous guests back, but sometimes it feels like you need to because the rapport was good the first time, or maybe you didn’t cover everything you wanted to on the first go around. I can certainly attest to wanting more time with some people after the interview has finished, so I suppose a part two is a good way to get around to that.I found the flow of this conversation to be even better than the first time. Which is always surprising, but is perhaps indicative of some kind of connection that goes beyond mere press person asking press questions to a largely disinterested human being.My favourite thing about podcasting is connection. Not just the connection I have to my guests, but also to my audience. There’s something real, raw, passionate, and genuine about the way individuals can form a bond over a microphone. Personally, I put it down to the elimination of distraction – we are constantly bombarded with information and content at all times, so taking the time to have an unadorned, focused conversation with another person is so valuable.Podcasts allow us to share that unique moment, to focus our attention the way the host and the guest focus there’s. It’s intimate. That’s why I love it.We all connect in beautiful ways.On this podcast Jonah and I talk about his book, Alone Rewinding, white male privilege, touring, 20 years of travelling to the UK and a few more political things. It’s an intense chat which went in a totally different direction than I thought it would, but I can’t complain cause I think it turned out really well.Phone courtesy of Story Volumes/Ron van Rutten.
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41 min
July 27, 2017 (Rebroadcast) Episode 33 - Justine Jones from Employed to Serve
Real talk: I'm ill. And because I'm ill, I've been a little slack in putting together some interviews. You'll probably be able to tell when you listen to the start of this episode.I've been listening to the new Employed to Serve album a lot lately. It's really very good. They're about to head out on tour with Milk Teeth and Wallflower and I thought hey, this would be a perfect time to do a quick flashback to when I interviewed Justine. The band have come on a lot since this interview was first broadcast, touring an absolute boatload, playing festivals and releasing the frankly wonderful album 'The Warmth of a Dying Sun'.I had a lot of fun doing this interview, and it's actually still pretty good. I hope you enjoy it.(Originally broadcast on January 22nd 2016)It can sometimes be stressful when trying to arrange interviews. Some people are funny about doing podcasts. Some people feel that doing a “wee” thing, like an interview for this podcast, isn’t a particularly good use of their time. I think both of these things are fair enough. If you’re going to get interviewed by The Guardian or Kerrang! Magazine then it makes way more sense to do that than it does to do this.Plus, it’s not like I’ll ever get Dave Grohl or something on here, is it?Obviously it’s more irritating when someone just doesn’t like doing podcast interviews, yet it just reminds me how lucky I’ve been to talk to some of the people I’ve spoken to; people who have reputations for being choosey about what they do have chosen to speak to me, and that’s very cool.I suppose what I’m getting at is that I’m still super thankful for people taking time out of their day to have a chat with me. And even more thankful to you guys for sticking with me.BUT HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO THIS WEEK’S EPISODE?! Well, I had some issues trying to book guests this week and then two came along at once. Only, both came along at the end of the week. My original intention was to interview Justine, get home, edit it and upload it, then get it out into your ears by 11.59pm on Thursday. Sadly, that didn’t happen.So, I’m sorry for being a little late. Nothing pains me more than being late. Seriously.What transpired though was a really good interview, and I think it’s worth waiting a little longer for. Employed to Serve are a mathy hardcore band of the kind I find myself increasingly drawn to as I grow older, and it was awesome to speak to another woman for this podcast when I’ve been struggling to find people to come on.Highlights include:Wetherspoons and beerRider beers and general drinking on tourWhen Justine realised she was creativeAnd when she realised she wanted to be in a bandSome influences in ETS’ soundDeftones and musical evolutionWhy math-type music is perhaps getting more popular than beforeSexism in the music industryOur favourite albums of last yearSometimes the best parts of the conversation happen after you switch off the microphone, and you’ll just need to take my word for it when I say that we say we continued chatting after I stopped recording.ETS are a band that is only going to grow, in my opinion, and I’m glad I got a chance to speak to Justine before they get even bigger. They absolutely nailed it at the show later that night and I highly recommend getting along to see them if you can.Oh, and I’m sorry for the drunken story ramble at the end. I’m not perfect. Sometimes I’m prone to flights of fancy.I hope you enjoy the episode.
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27 min
July 13, 2017 S2: 18 - Fraser Stewart from Fat Goth talks about Nirvana, Being a Part Time Band, Creative Burnout and ZZ Top.
Uncle Vic Galloway is responsible for my discovery of Fat Goth. He shared the video for their song ‘Creepy Lounge’ on his Twitter account way back in the heady days of 2013 and that was it, I was a fan. Since then, I’ve seen them every time they’ve passed through Glasgow and they never disappoint live.I’ve always found their sound to be a bit strange. And I mean that in a good way. It’s sort of off kilter, with riffs and hooks which don’t really land in the way you expect them to. I always wondered where that came from, and it wasn’t until I was doing research for this interview that I learned Fraser is influenced by Nomeansno. I’d never heard them before and after listening to them it all made sense.This is mentioned in the episode, but I actually thought they’d stopped being a band. After their third album One Percent Suave they went dark, aside from the odd show, and I thought they’d quietly patched it. Imagine my surprise when they remerged with Enorme! Earlier this year, dialling up that Nomeansno influence and streamlining their already muscular sound into something more direct and furious than ever before.It was like watching an old friend appearing out of the ether and reminding you why they were so cool in the first place.And so we turn to this interview. My first phone interview. I was contending with some pretty serious RF interference on this but I was able to fix it in post production. Who knew that it would be as easy as simply plugging your phone into the digital record and hitting record? Certainly not me.Fraser was a lovely chap to talk to, and I appreciate him bearing with me as I got all this shit to work. We talk a lot about Nirvana, Metallica, being a part time band, creative burn out and a lot more. I hope you enjoy this interview.Photo courtesy of Still Burning Photography.
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38 min
June 29, 2017 S2: 17 - Billy Liar Returns for Part 2(.5) and Talks About Living in Berlin, Touring with a Live Band, Writing a Play, Collaborating with Freddy Fudd Pucker and Creative Discipline
Sometimes you feel like you have unfinished business after an interview ends. That’s kinda how I felt the last time I interviewed Billy, even though it was almost 50 minutes long. People and their situations change, and Billy has done a whole bunch of stuff since our last interview, including immigrating to Berlin, which I hear is a lovely place.I enjoy it when podcasters interview the same person multiple times, particularly when it takes place over a number of years. If you’re lucky, and it’s someone the interviewer has hit it off with in the past, it feels like two old friends reconnecting. I also feel it often demonstrates the way both the host and the guest have changed over the years.This year, despite living in Berlin, Billy is doing a play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I’ve kept in touch with him since our first chat, and as a result we’ve actually become friends, so this interview is also something of a catch up. With him being out the country and me always somehow being busy whenever he is in the country, I thought it was about damn time we talk about all the cool shit he’s been doing.Including his most recent tour, which is when I conducted this interview. We talk about it throughout this episode, but this is the first time Billy has played with a full band in a number of years, and it was the first time I’d ever seen him with a full band. It was pretty spectacular. His backing band were also the main support on the tour, and those guys (Empty Lungs, a powertrio from Belfast) were absolute heroes for pulling double duty every night of their European and UK tours.Billy’s got a new album coming out next year, and I can tell you for a goddamn fact that, based on the show I saw him play after this interview, it’s gonna be a cracker.A wee note about the recording – I recorded this in my car (!) and without headphones, so you’re gonna hear some traffic noise. I don’t think it’s too distracting though, and the interview is nice and clear anyway!I hope you enjoy it.
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40 min

About The Curator Podcast

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The Curator is a podcast about passion and creativity. We chat to musicians and artists about their creative process, why they do what they do and the passion that drives them. We also talk about…