Shane Embury is longtime bassist for the grindcore/death metal band Napalm Death, which he joined in 1987 and has remained with ever since. In addition to Napalm Death, he has been involved in numerous side projects and bands across the extreme metal spectrum, such as Blood from the Soul, Lock Up, Brujeria, and Venomous Concept. Before his bass‑career, he played drums in early death metal and grindcore efforts like Warhammer and Unseen Terror. He lives in Birmingham and is an enthusiast of horror, science fiction, and comics.

But keeping this archive alive takes time, energy, and resources. If you’ve ever been moved, inspired, or challenged by the conversations on The Lydian Spin, consider giving back. Your donation helps us cover production costs, keep the episodes free and accessible, and continue amplifying the voices that matter. Click the link above or go to https://paypal.me/tsd1975

As a Ph.D. candidate working in one of America's largest music archives at Middle Tennessee State University, he's presently completing a book tentatively titled The Architects of Punk & No Wave: The Literary Impulses of the New York Underground in the 1970s. The project explores how punk and no wave pioneers from Richard Hell to Lydia Lunch established a new aesthetic and subculture from the wreckage of the 1960s and their own literary aspirations, and it documents their response over the next decades to the changing cultural currency of New York's mythic decade. 

🎙️ Support The Lydian Spin 🎙️

The Lydian Spin is more than just a podcast—it’s a living archive of raw conversation, radical thought, and unfiltered voices. Week after week, Lydia Lunch and Tim Dahl dive deep with artists, musicians, and cultural agitators who refuse to be silenced.

But keeping this archive alive takes time, energy, and resources. If you’ve ever been moved, inspired, or challenged by the conversations on The Lydian Spin, consider giving back. Your donation helps us cover production costs, keep the episodes free and accessible, and continue amplifying the voices that matter. Click the link above or go to https://paypal.me/tsd1975

Budgie (born Peter Edward Clarke) is an English drummer recognized for his work with Siouxsie and the Banshees (1979–1996) and the percussion-driven project The Creatures (1981–2004). He  lost his mother at age 12, and that early loss becomes a central theme in The Absence: Memoirs of a Banshee Drummer, where he also writes candidly about his marriage with Siouxsie Sioux, struggles with alcohol, and the power dynamics in both his personal and musical life. His drumming is praised for being offbeat, tom-tom-intensive, and for bringing melodic and rhythmic invention rather than just keeping time.

🎙️ Support The Lydian Spin 🎙️

The Lydian Spin is more than just a podcast—it’s a living archive of raw conversation, radical thought, and unfiltered voices. Week after week, Lydia Lunch and Tim Dahl dive deep with artists, musicians, and cultural agitators who refuse to be silenced.

But keeping this archive alive takes time, energy, and resources. If you’ve ever been moved, inspired, or challenged by the conversations on The Lydian Spin, consider giving back. Your donation helps us cover production costs, keep the episodes free and accessible, and continue amplifying the voices that matter.

Paul Cantelon grew up with music in his blood—his mother played trumpet in the Philadelphia Symphony, his father was a preacher. A prodigy on violin, he debuted at UCLA’s Royce Hall at 13, then studied piano across Geneva, Juilliard, and Paris. At 17, a bike accident left him in a coma and wiped out his memory; he had to relearn music from scratch. He went on to co-found the band Wild Colonials, release solo piano albums, and score films like The Diving Bell & the Butterfly, The Other Boleyn Girl, and W.. He’s also written for silent film classics like Battleship Potemkin.

Shawn “The Defenestrator” O’Connor is a founding member and drummer of the St. Louis band Yowie. Outside of music, he works as a clinical psychologist. Shawn is also something of a luddite, aiming to be the last adult in America without a cell phone.

Pamela Des Barres, born in California, emerged from the 1960s Los Angeles rock scene as both participant and witness. Introduced to Captain Beefheart in high school, she soon immersed herself in the vast Los Angeles demimonde, befriending and dating musicians from The Byrds to Led Zeppelin. With Frank Zappa’s guidance, she co-founded the performance collective the GTOs, documenting her experiences in diaries that became the foundation of her seminal memoir I’m With the Band. She later married rocker Michael Des Barres—also known to television audiences for his role as the assassin Murdoc on MacGyver. Pamela herself went on to publish multiple books and establish a career as an author, teacher, and chronicler of rock history, in her role as the definitive voice of the “groupie.”

Comedian Eddie Pepitone, dubbed “The Bitter Buddha,” blends caustic humor with existential musings, delivering performances that ricochet between volcanic rants and self-effacing confessionals. A veteran of New York’s improv scene and a familiar face on television—from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to Bob’s Burgers—Eddie’s work straddles the line between working-class outrage and oddly serene insight. Offstage, he channels his restless wit into podcasts, social media, and quirky web series, carving out a singular space in comedy that is equal parts fury and philosophy.

Shannon Sky is a poet, author, photographer, publisher, and activist born in Chicago. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University. 

Shannon is an off the radar, gender queer, underground poet. She previously worked in electoral politics, successfully advocated for juvenile justice reform laws in Chicago, lobbied Congress to fund public health care, and currently consults on green environmental projects. 

She is the founder of Latter-day Beat Books. A world traveler, Shannon has explored all 50 states and 35 countries on four continents.

Tianna Kennedy is co-owner and operator of Star Route Farm. She has lived in Tucson, the Bay Area, Nottingham, and Brooklyn. For over a decade, she has been farming in the Catskills, which now serves as her home base. Tianna is also part of the crew of Apollonia, a 64-foot steel-hulled schooner retrofitted for sail freight on the Hudson River. She contributes to cargo operations and deck work as the vessel transports goods between upriver farms and downriver markets using wind and recycled vegetable oil.

Dougie Bowne is a producer, drummer, guitarist, and composer who entered New York’s avant-garde scene in his early twenties after a chance street encounter with a member of John Cale’s circle, who invited him to jam simply because he was carrying a bag of drum sticks and “looked cool”. Unfamiliar with Cale at the time, Dougie nonetheless accepted—and that serendipitous moment launched him into the heart of the Downtown scene. Since then, he has collaborated with an eclectic roster of artists, including John Cale, Iggy Pop, Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, The Lounge Lizards, Marianne Faithfull, as well as filmmakers Edet Belzberg and Jim Jarmusch.