The Curator Podcast

The Curator Podcast: Episode 33 - Justine Jones from Employed to ServeIt 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 beer
• Rider beers and general drinking on tour
• When Justine realised she was creative
• And when she realised she wanted to be in a band
• Some influences in ETS’ sound
• Deftones and musical evolution
• Why math-type music is perhaps getting more popular than before
• Sexism in the music industry
• Our favourite albums of last year

Sometimes 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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One of the best things about coming across a new artist is the way that they broaden your horizons and push your music tastes in new directions. I can’t profess to being much of a folk fan – at least not of the traditional kind – but the genre itself fascinates me.This episode features an interview with Glasgow folk singer/songwriter Chrissy Barnacle. I was drawn to her music mainly because of her long standing association with various other DIY artists in and around Glasgow, and ever since absorbing the honest, ethereal beauty of her music, I find myself itching to discover more music in a similar vein. One person and their guitar is often more punk rock, more honest than any other kind of music.This is great, because all it takes is one song to show you something a new side to music that you haven’t heard before. It’s also time for me to start pushing the boundaries of this podcast, bringing in new voices and different styles of music. Rooted in punk this podcast certainly is, but it doesn’t always have to be that way. And it shouldn’t be. Diversity of voices, experiences and sound is what makes music so exciting to me. Hopefully you agree.Alright so I conducted this conversation after a failed attempt in pub. That particular attempt was quickly foiled by a pub quiz host bellowing his introduction into a roomful of disinterested patrons, so the second attempt took place in a quiet café. Quiet in the sense that there weren’t many customers; the interview itself is anything but quiet.Yes folks, I made a boo boo and recorded the interview directly under a speaker which was pumping out loud music. I’ve done my best to minimize the impact the music has on the interview (big thanks to Todd Jordan from The Bitter End podcast for helping me out. Again) but it’s still there. I just hope you agree with me when I say it doesn’t affect the sound quality of the interview too much.Chrissy had all sorts of artists on her list of “songwriters I look up to” which I hadn’t heard before. I’ll be checking them out for sure.I hope you enjoy the episode.

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It’s great to get back to some semblance of normality after the Christmas break. I feel like I’m enthusiastic about the podcast again.Which is in no small part down to this excellent interview with Fraser from The Murderburgers. If you like punk rock and you live in Scotland then there’s about a 90% you know who these guys are. They play everywhere and are on the road all the damn time. They really embody the DIY punk spirit that the whole ethos of “punk” was built on. The fact that they do it with catchy pop punk really is just a huge bonus.I’d been trying to arrange this interview for a while, as Fraser would no doubt tell you, but it took a while for the stars to align, as it were.It was definitely worth waiting for, I think.Highlights include:

• Restlessness and not staying in one place too long leading to wanting to be on the road a lot
• The difficulty of finding a balance between touring and doing normal stuff, then eventually giving up on finding the balance
• Getting more enjoyment out of life by doing band and label stuff
• Having bad luck in the band
• Including bad luck on their recent UK and European tour
• Van issues and a dodgy car dealer
• Andy from Palm Reader saves the day!
• Sharing musical gear
• First musical moments
• Getting involved with DIY punk and staying involved
• Using booking agents and booking your own tours
• The weirdness of “competition” between
• The change in music over the years
• Evil pay to play
• Pop punk and the difference between Screeching Weasel, Teenage Bottlerocket and more sorta Four Year Strong kind of stuff
• Why the band is still a "we" and not a solo project despite having so many lineup changes and Fraser being the songwriter
• Wrestlers in Space!
• And lots more

Last week’s interviewee Billy Liar and this week’s interviewee Fraser are really good friends, so it was kind of serendipitous that I was able to interview them both back to back. They’re both cut from the same cloth too, in terms of their approach to music, their dedication and their ethos.Perhaps the next time I talk to them I should interview them together…I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I enjoyed the chat.

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I’m glad you’re still with me. The last episode was a blinder, and despite having a two week break it still seems people are digging the podcast. Thank you for sticking around.We’re back to normal this week and it's episode 30. Bloody hell.On this episode I speak to Billy Liar who is among some of the most talented singer songwriters in Scotland right now. I’d never met the guy before, but it was great to hang out and shoot the shit with him. He’s a very lovely, intelligent and thoughtful guy. I'm a big fan of punk infused folk, or folk infused punk, or whatever you want to call it. So having a Scottish take on it certainly warms my cold little heart.This interview takes place in a pub in Glasgow’s city centre, meaning that the whole chat is sort of enveloped in the sort of low mummer of hundreds of voices speaking at once. I like the ambience it gives. We had a couple of pints and decided to talk about music and creativity. I found it fascinating. I hope you do too.Highlights include:

• Always wanting to play music and writing songs before even realising he could play songs
• Forming his first band and playing shows in school, community centres and church halls
• Seeing The Offspring for the first time
• The dangers of comparing your life to someone else as everyone grows old and grows away from music
• AFI and Caffeine and how that opened up punk for both of us
• Caffeine’s DIY CD and Billy’s first experience of a DIY band
• Why he went solo
• Approaching every recording differently, and not trying to write into a genre
• How it’s taken a while to get to the point where other people are asking him to do things
• Waits, Cash, Springsteen and musical storytellers being an influence
• The influence of authors on his songwriting process
• First songs being influenced by conversations on MSN Messenger
• Finding a balance between songwriting and storytelling in music
• Creativity as catharsis – the need to get certain feelings out
• “I don’t believe in a soul really, but it do believe it’s possible to write based on the influences in your life if you manage to get onto that perfect wavelength where the thing comes through you.”
• Writing more stuff based on characters
• His new split with Paper Rifles and the reason that came about

During my Christmas break I toyed with the idea of doing this podcast in seasons, ending season one with episode 30 and then picking it up again later in 2016. I’ve decided against that – for now – but I’d love to know your thoughts on this. Would seasons be better?  It does take off the pressure of having to churn out content week after week…Featured MusicIntro: Voodoo Puppets – Electric Chair Blues (used under CC licence, you can check it out here).Billy Liar - All I've GotBilly Liar - WordsBilly Liar - ChangeI make no claim to the copyright of any of the music in this episode.LinksAll of Billy's music is available on bandcamp and is, I believe, worth every penny.You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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I’ve written, deleted and rewritten this post a number of times both in my head and on the page, but everything seems inadequate. Let’s start with the facts – on this episode I have founder of Dischord Records, activist, musician, producer, composer and archivist (among other things) Ian MacKaye.If you’re reading this then there’s a really good chance that you’re a fan of or at least understand the influence Ian has had on music. Dischord Records and the Washington DC hardcore scene not only influenced punk music, but the effect it had on music at large is still apparent to this day. Some of the biggest and most well-known names in rock music that have emerged over the past 30 years were either involved with or inspired by what Ian and his friends created in Washington DC in the 1980s.That’s really all the introduction I can give you because there is nothing more I can say or contribute that hasn’t already been said elsewhere. There are books, documentaries and films dedicated to that scene and its impact (and indeed to Ian himself). Anything I write in this tiny space is bound to miss out some important detail. The narrative of that scene has been relayed a thousand times, and will no doubt be relayed a thousand times more.I hate to wheel out the old “once a lifetime opportunity” cliché but being able to chat with Ian MacKaye was certainly one of those. Ian has done his fair share of interviews over the years and in his own words, from the email correspondence we had before the interview, “the talking about the done has been interfering with the doing”. I’m still trying to figure out why he decided that it would be a worthwhile thing for him to talk to me, but I’m ever so glad that he did.This interview is as close to unedited as it is possible for it to be. My aim was to find out more about Ian’s musical philosophy because given the monumental impact he’s had on music I was intrigued to see what powered that, and if he ever stopped for a moment to think about the impact his achievements have had on the world.His intellect is stunning. He’s polite, quick, lively, opinionated, wise and he does not suffer fools lightly. There are even a couple of moments in the interview that he takes me to task for some of the things I said to him – the way I phrase a particular question, or if he disagrees with something I’ve said or some of the thoughts I have. I appreciate that. This is a man who has lived twice the life I have in years, but at least ten times the life I have in experience.It was an absolute honour to talk to him.Highlights include:

• Learning how to say MacKaye properly when he was in Scotland
• Coming from a family of writers and archivists
• The foundation of punk being angry
• The way that lead to violence at shows
• Some cool Minor Threat and Fugazi stories
• How he never really reflects on what he's done
• The role of Dischord being an archive label
• The difficulty for musicians touring America these days
• And much, much more that I don’t want to spoil for you

Needless to say, I was humbled by the experience of chatting to him. He’s like a wise punk rock sage. He said that if I’m ever in DC that I should swing by Dischord house and pop in for some tea.I plan to do just that.Towards the end of the interview my mic cuts out and it switches over to my voice recorded on his end. I'm sorry for that, but it's still a great chat and you can still hear me.I hope you enjoy this episode.

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The Curator Podcast: Episode 28 – Ewan Grant from WOMPSAh, dear listener. I apologies for missing a week. I feel terrible about it. The fact that I didn’t post an episode on my regular schedule has kept me up at night ever since. I value you. I value your time, your attention and the fact that you choose to make me a part of your day.Let me explain what happened in the hope that you might be able to forgive me.Usually I like to have an interview or two in the bank for eventualities such as this, but I left myself short on content. After I conducted this interview with Ewan I formatted the SD card in my recorder thinking that I had removed the file, then I promptly took a week off and went to Marrakech for my 30th birthday. When I returned the interview was nowhere to be seen. I started to make plans with Ewan to re-do it.Then I ran some recovery software on the SD card and managed to retrieve the interview. The crisis somewhat averted, I decided just to treat the missed episode as a holiday week and return to my regularly scheduled programming the following week. And so here we are, back on track with an interview I once thought lost but has now been found.And it’s a really good interview!I sat down with Ewan in the 13th Note Café in Glasgow, the lovely staff there allowing us to sit in their restaurant type bit to have a chat. Ewan is a lovely guy and I had a really good time talking to him and talking about all things WOMPS, Algernon Doll, Steve Albini, Black metal and feminism, amongst other things.Highlights include:

• Wanting to be a footballer but not liking the lad culture
• Skateboarding leading to guitar playing
• Being in hardcore bands as a teenager and losing those people he played with
• Expressing feelings of loss through songwriting
• “You can only feel sorry for yourself for a certain amount of time”
• Algernon Doll being terrifying
• Moving from WOMPS to Algernon Doll
• The influence of Elliott Smith
• Not searching for a songwriting partner but finding one anyway
• Songwriting influences – John Lennon, George Harrison, Frank Ocean, Danish Post Punk
• Not being able to mention good Paul McCartney songs
• Separating art from the artists (specifically talking about Michael Jackson, R Kelly, Lostprophets and Burzum)
• Some black metal discussion and Deafheaven
• Recording with Steve Albini and how he feels about being asked about it a lot
• Being put up by Steve Albini when stuck in Chicago for the second time
• Getting a pass from Partisan Records and how Steve’s attitude helped them move on
• The advantage of having a booking agent instead of booking shows themselves
• Having a team of women around them
• How the punk scene is trying to avoid misogyny but shows are still 90% male in attendance
• Is the indie scene better for women?
• Lots of love for Make that a Take and Book Yer Ane Fest
• How the DIY ethos is still important
• Getting involved with Damnably

Ewan’s worked very hard over the years and it’s brilliant to see that it’s now paying off with WOMPS. Their sound has definitely evolved from his older solo stuff and I’m really excited to hear their album next year.I hope you enjoy this episode. And I hope that you forgive me for being a week late. 

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I’ve waxed lyrical on my love and history with hip hop a couple of times recently, so there’s no need to go through it all again.Andy Hepburn, known as Astronautalis, has been one of my favourite rappers since I heard him on the P.O.S. album ‘Never Better’. His style, delivery and the literary intelligence of his lyrics appeals to the writer in me in ways that a lot of rappers really can’t match.Upon landing this interview I did a whole bunch of research and found out that he’s related to the 4th Earl of Bothwell, James Hepburn, Better known as Mary, Queen of Scots’ third husband. I won’t bore you with the details of the history and why that’s so interesting to me (it’s covered in the podcast) but suffice to say, the Scottish history geek in me was happy to have a chat about all of that with Andy.He’s probably one of the coolest, most laid back people I’ve spoken to so far and this chat is one of the easiest I can remember. Honestly, if you don’t love him already I guarantee that you will after this episode.Highlights include:

• Being in a Yahoo Newsgroup about James Hepburn
• Getting teary eyed about Scotland
• Some history about Mary, Queen of Scots, James Bothwell and the oldest house in Glasgow
• Why he started to look into his heritage
• Making the conscious choice to write lyrics based on historical fiction
• Coming from a line of storytellers and seeing himself as an oral storyteller
• It was kind of like making a reading list
• It was rappers who were storytellers that drew him towards hip hop – Lord Finesse, Big L, Slick Rick and Ghostface and underground New York hip hop
• Battling is not art, it’s sport. It’s not about creativity; it’s about making fun of someone. It’s also about being precise at a thing and really good at a thing. It’s a weapon.
• But Andy was going to theatre school – battling and studying performance weren’t gelling for him
• It took a while to let the art knowledge and theatre training to bleed into his music
• Theatre informs his performance – he is playing an elevated version of himself
• Seeing the live show and the album as two different things – shows should be parties, albums are made to be absorbed
• Both punk and hip hop have a need to throw a party, even if the music isn’t about the party
• Yet there’s also an angry energy which drives the music
• Moving to Minneapolis because of the hip hop scene
• Being a rapper for 20 years
• The way he’s incorporated many different literary techniques into his lyrics
• How Shakespeare opened his eyes to the sheer complexity of writing
• And the way Shakespeare essentially gave him a new appreciation for art
• Becoming a better songwriter as time goes on and taking the influence of pop rap to make things more elegant
• The lyrics and the music need to combine together to do the job
• What the vibe of the new album is about
• Using different vocal styles and developing a new language for each album
• Making music more simple than ever before
• And being very proud of his new album

I’m continually blown away by the generosity of the people I’ve interviewed – they really don’t have to give any time at all to some idiot with a microphone but I’m so glad that they do. Andy was an excellent guest and given his storytelling background, you can quite clearly see the raconteur at work in this interview.I hope you enjoy it. It’s one of my favourites.Featured MusicIntro: Voodoo Puppets – Electric Chair Blues (used under CC licence, you can check it out here).Astronautalis - The Wondersmith and his SonsAstronautalis - Sike!I make no claim to the copyright of any of the music in this episode.LinksGo follow Astronautalis on Twitter and like him on facebook. His new album will be out through Side One Dummy next year. His website is also brilliant.Image by Marcus Junius Laws. I make no claim to the copyright. See the original here.

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My guest on this episode is Daniel Andriano from the Alkaline Trio and from his solo project The Emergency Room.I had some reservations about this interview because in the wake of the horror in Paris on the 13th of November, it was pretty clear when I arrived at the venue that everyone was pretty shaken up by what had happened. There’s no diatribe from me about that – I like to keep politics and world events as far away from this podcast as possible because this space is for culture, creativity and passion. The only reason I bring it up is because I think it had an impact on this interview.At the time I had a definite sense of unease, not least because I had friends who were playing in the city that same night. After I finished this interview I had a feeling that that unease had made its way into the interview, so I emailed Dan’s PR representatives and let them know I wouldn’t be using the interview.Then I listened to it again.I was dreading listening to the recording because I remember feeling off balance (I talk more than normal, it's shorter than I'd have liked etc), and I got the impression that Dan was a little off his game too. But when I listened to it, it was fine. I think we needed that normality in the shadow of horror.It’s a short interview because we were pretty slammed for time.Highlights include:

• The first thing Dan learned to play
• Being a guitar player first but playing bass in his first few bands
• The difference between solo records and Alkaline Trio stuff
• And how Hurricane Season differs from Party Adjacent
• Working with Jeff Rosenstock
• The difficulty of balance home and the road
• When and if he ever realised he was a full time musician
• Mike Park and Asian Man
• Having someone else take control over a couple of his songs
• Sam Russo, Bangers, The Murderburgers, Asian Man Records and Creeper

As you can hear in the podcast, I’m pretty starstruck. Alkaline Trio are responsible for making me a musician. Without From Here to Infirmary I wouldn’t be making music. There are a lot of bands out there I love and that are responsible for the deep connection I feel with music, but there are not many bands which I can say are directly responsible for making me a musician.For many people, both guests on this podcast like Dan and listeners, the passion for music and the need to create music are intractable. For others like me, one came before the other.I hope you enjoy the episode.Featured MusicIntro: Voodoo Puppets – Electric Chair Blues (used under CC licence, you can check it out here).Dan Andriano in the Emergency Room - Don't Have a ThingDan Andriano in the Emergency Room - Haunt Your HouseI make no claim to the copyright of any of the music in this episode.LinksCheck out Dan Andriano in The Emergency Room over on their website and get something cool. Party Adjacent is great.Please check them out on Facebook and Twitter.Questions? Feedback?You can do either by dropping a comment in the comment box below.Or you can hit the contact link to show me some love by using the cool email form.Social MediaI’m on a few social media sites, so it’d be pretty handy if you could show me some love over there.Check out the Facebook page.Or you can get me on Twitter.Oh and seriously, rating and reviewing this podcast on iTunes would be amazing.

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It’s funny how your music tastes change as you grow older. In many ways, I like music which is angrier, heavier, dirtier and more violent than when I was younger. My brief flirtation with metalcore as Killswitch Engage rose to prominence in 2002 with Alive or Just Breathing, led to heavier things like Darkest Hour and The Dillinger Escape Plan, but it was only after Anti-Flag pointed me in the direction of politics and Rise Against steered me towards hardcore that I realised the things I enjoyed most about those bands (among others) was actually the fervent catharsis of hardcore. That's what I was really attracted to.But it had to have melody too. There had to be some kind of vocal hook. I put this down to being a singer, and is perhaps part of the reason why Funeral for a Friend, Alexisonfire and Thrice had such a significant role in my growth as a songwriter.I digress.What I’m trying to say is that over the years I’ve grown to appreciate heavier stuff whilst apparently (and subconsciously) expanding my taste in various different directions. Yet electronic music always remained a mystery to me, and for the most part it still does. There’s something sterile and clinical about it; I often get the feeling that there’s no ghost in the machine, that those binary sounds bring about a coldness which somehow traps any emotion inside an icy, digital prison.However, I’m human, and I’m a hypocrite. I love Nine Inch Nails and recently I stumbled upon, and have found myself falling in love with ,HEALTH.Those two bands are probably bad examples. Both are still fundamentally rock bands. Both are still heavy despite (certainly in the case HEALTH’s recent album, Death Magic) anchoring their songs with pop melodies.I guess no matter how hard I try to branch out, I’m still listening to and discovering music with the same patterns regardless of genre.Make no mistake about it though, HEALTH are an now an electronic band and much to the chagrin of “guitar music” lovers, in Death Magic they have released one of the heaviest albums of 2015. It’s just so goddamn loud. Yeah it’s electronic in places, and yes there’s hooks flying at you from all angles, but there’s blastbeats, riffs and walls of noisy guitars.And it’s all swaddled in the kind of production that no mainstream rock producer can even touch.Plus that fervent catharsis I mentioned earlier on? It positively seeps from the very pores of this record.You can see why I wanted to interview them.I sat down with singer/guitarist/noise-maker Jake to have a chat about the band, his punk rock origins (we share that in common) and why the album took six years among other things.Highlights include:

• Enjoying Rihanna and the perfect pop song
• The Rihanna industrial songwriting process
• Streamlining the music process and perfecting the craft
• Neuroticism about their music and why it took six years to write Death Magic
• How being on the road for two and a half years, and working on Max Payne 3, delayed Death Magic
• Refusing to abandon something for the sake of putting out an album – they had to be happy with exactly how it sounded
• Making a heavy record that has different production from metal records
• How heavy music isn’t tasteful
• Rihanna songs hit harder than most rock albums because of the production
• The Haxan Cloak, The Body and the production of their records
• Health are not background music, and they wanted to make a visceral record
• Taking modern hip hop production and applying it to a noise rock record
• Musical progression, incorporating melody and moving away from noise rock
• And much more

I feel this conversation had a really natural flow, and I’m so grateful that Jake took the time to chat with me, particularly given that there were some time constraints.I hope you enjoy the episode.

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On this episode I have Pat Thetic from the band Anti-Flag, and you might wonder why Anti-Flag are important to me.Regular listeners probably know that my journey into the world of punk rock began with The Offspring. They were the portal into a world which I’ve spent the last 18 years in, staying curious and walking between the different lands that each specific genre of punk rock music occupy.But that punk rock journey did not start off political. The first record I bought, Americana by The Offspring, is half party record, half teen angst. It was very much of its time and as a 12 year old boy I played the CD until it warped. I think I spent a good three years with that as my sole musical focus.I still have that very same CD and at some point along the way, I picked up the sheet music to it as well. In 2001, after Conspiracy of One was released, my first ever show was The Offspring in the SECC, supported by Caffeine and AFI.Fast forward a year and at some stage a friend of mine let me hear ‘Die for Your Government’ by Anti-Flag, and I subsequently downloaded a bunch of their stuff. I was no stranger to political music – I was and still am a huge Rage Against the Machine fan – but it never moved me to action. Rage’s political fury was righteous but it never rang true for me.During the download binge, I came across Anti-Flag’s ‘9/11 for Peace’ and it changed the game. For the first time I saw the power of politics in music; I realised that a song can be a powerful vessel for a political message, it can be a call to action. It can mean something more than a song, than a piece of music. It can represent the fullness of an idea.The power of those messages, combined with the essays that Anti-Flag fill their album sleeves with, was an inspiration to me.My own songwriting process has been inherently political ever since. I have Anti-Flag to thank for that.My chat with Pat (ohh, it rhymes) is very laid back, open and honest. He’s a great guy who is as politically engaged as you might expect. Highlights include: Finding punk rock communities in every country they go to Pat’s enjoyment of the punk community and how the DIY ethic brings people together The DIY ethic of A-F Records and how that keeps them connected to the punk community The difficulty of staying touch with the punk community when you tour so much But also being addicted to touring despite how unhealthy it is for life Making the transition from normal life to tour life and the fiction that causes The meaning of American Spring and the purpose of the album’s message The Ukraine situation and giving power to the people When things go to violence, no one ever wins The population always has to go with a nonviolent way of revolution The great reception of American Spring and how playing songs live almost has no value because of the way the fans interpret Anti-Flag’s music is always a dialogue When Pat realised that being in a band is something he needed to do We talk about the independence referendum Art getting work done is more important or valuable than music that makes you just feel good without a message The problem with punk being overwhelmingly white and maleI was really happy that I had a chance to speak with someone from a band who had such an important influence on me. Over the years, Anti-Flag have fallen away from view. My listening habits went in a slightly different direction. However after hearing American Spring and speaking to Pat, I’m sure I won’t let that happen again.I hope you enjoy the episode.

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