The Third Men Podcast

We're taking a break from our summer vacation to bring you a special new "best of" collection, compiling some of the awesome interviews The Third Men Podcast conducted last season! In this episode you'll find words of wisdom and entertaining TMR stories from insiders, musicians, songwriters and even a legend or two - the perfect episode to share with a new listener. Special thanks to Dex Romweber, Jeremy Ivey, Karen Elson, Radkey, Danny Kroha, Chris Lyons, April March, Olivia Jean and Craig Brown for helping to make season 5 of the podcast our most memorable and popular yet - and thanks to all the other guests who joined us that we simply ran out of space to include! But that's not all - we'd also like to announce our season 6 opener: THE THIRD MEN PODCAST OPEN SHOW: 2021! In our first-ever foray into a visual edition of our TMP, we're calling on all Jack White fans to submit their contribution to this major youtube/podcast crossover event! Are you a musician? Video yourself playing a Jack White tune and send it along! Have some kick-ass Jack White or TMR fan art? Have a fun concert story you want to share? Take all your amazing Jack White memories & creativity and send them along to [email protected] by September 5th, 2021, to be included in the show!

We're sittin' on top of the world...because it's the season 5 finale of The Third Men Podcast - AND our landmark 150th episode! That's TWO big things. But of course, in the Jack White tradition, we need a third big thing...so for this special milestone episode we present to you an extended discussion with musician, podcaster, and Atlantic Records marketing mastermind Nick Harvey! Earlier in the year, Paul joined Nick and co-host Eric Daino on their wonderful Adventure Time podcast titled Adventure Guys, and in that episode an interesting discussion began: what role did the four years of high school and the four years of college play in the development of our respective musical tastes? Does an artist who waits four years between releases miss out on an entire generation of possible fans? How does an aging fanbase affect the trajectory of an artist's style? Do the musical prejudices we can sometimes carry with us in our youth grow out of us as adults...or do those divisions only grow stronger over time? These questions and more are the subject of today's 150th episode we had to title "Four Years of Chances" - in which we seek to trace our own musical evolution through stories, melodies and experiences of distant playlists past. At Atlantic Records, fostering fandom is top of mind for Nick, who serves as Marketing Director and has spent the last decade entrenched in nearly every aspect of the music business. Nick is also on hand to give us his perspective on Jack White's career, as well as the many achievements racked up by Third Man Records in their own 12 years of carefully curated activity. Our thanks go to Nick Harvey for joining us this week, and to everyone who has helped the Third Men Podcast continue to grow and thrive these past 150 episodes. To our listeners, our guests, and the wonderful crew at Third Man Records, we owe a great debt of gratitude - and we look forward to paying it forward when we return for season 6 this September!

We knew that you wanted more, but would you fight for...another edition of the great Jack White song debate known only as: Would You Fight For My Love? Well Alex Guaraldi and Jordan Collins from Coppersound Pedals sure would, because our Triplegraph friends are back to play this epic Third Men Podcast game not seen since episode 15 of the show waaaaay back in season one! Each contestant in this bluesy battle royale must pick two of their least favorite Jack White tunes, and it's up to the opposing team to mount a defense - if our players can get their opponents to reconsider the song at hand, then points are won and champions will inevitably be crowned. Can James convince Jordan that Ezmerelda must indeed steal the show? Can Alex come up with a collectors item to distract Paul into giving him a higher score? Will Jordan have the stamina to collect every single little acorn he can find? And will Paul find the financing for his one-man-play recounting the true (and insane) story of one "Stagg" Lee Shelton and his fight for riverboat pimp supremacy? One thing is for sure - we all had a super fun time playing! And we hope you all have a fun time listening. Enjoy!

Let's go! Allons-y! The Third Men Podcast is proud to present an all-new extended interview with not one, but TWO special guests this week! Here to discuss their recently released EP Palladium, we're joined by returning guest and top-tier TMR recording artist Olivia Jean, alongside legendary musician, songwriter, animator and illustrator Elinor Blake, aka April March! This past spring, Elinor and Olivia treated fans to a collaboration many months in the making, with a 6 track EP and corresponding 7" single release encompassing a multi-lingual, multi-arrangement study on the track Palladium by Liz Brady (originally written as The Hip by 60's Texan rockers The Sparkles). Recorded in July of 2020, Elinor and Olivia's self-produced collaboration also features the talents of Erica Salazar, Austin Seegers and Cody Clayton, capturing the spirit and energy of Olivia Jean's latest live sets with sizzling results. Of course, with two titanic talents such as these two on hand, we had to dive deeper! Jack White fans will also remember Elinor Blake for her excellent illustrations within the We're Going To Be Friends children's book and corresponding cover single back in 2017 - as well as a multitude of other musical milestones through the course of her career. We discuss Elinor's early days (both in the visual and musical arts) as well as conduct a much-needed catch-up with the latest happenings in the world of Olivia Jean. Which iconic comic book artist was Elinor tasked with retrieving from the bar during her first internship? What is the secret origin of the shiny and mysterious Holly Grail? Which dance would win in a You Got Served-style dance competition: the "Deborah" or the "White Boy Shuffle"? The answers to these questions and more await you in this excessively fun extended interview! Let's go! Allons-y!

Calling all candy cane children! This week the Third Men take an up-close look at what it means to be a White Stripes fan, from the songs that move us to the aspects of the fandom that keep us engaged. Since the video for Fell In Love With A Girl hit airwaves in the early 2000's (and even before then), fans have been captivated by Jack & Meg's grand experiment, and that interest has blossomed into a wide world of content spanning not just the continued musical work of Jack White, but an entire stable of artists and history throughout the Third Man Records world. What songs brought you into the fold? Was it seeing the band live that did it, or was it the eye-candy (peppermint, of course) music videos that sustained your interest? In this episode we'll take a look at all sides of the fandom, and we're especially excited to announce that we've enlisted some help in showcasing the songs that inspire us by the band that we just can't get enough of. In the first installment of a new on-going series, The Third Men Podcast is proud to present the CANDY CANE FAN FESTIVAL, an open show for listeners to submit recordings of themselves covering songs by The White Stripes. The response to this open show was enormous, and we're so excited to present music by incredibly talented listeners such as: Alex Schaks, Andy Osborn, Austin Lee, Casey & Muddiman, David PV, Derik Ferguson, Francesco Savants Belluci, Gretchen Shae, Jacob Vee & Too Deep, Josh Akin, Joe Humphries & Flat Whites, Josh Woodall & Red Letter, Lori Carlson, Mark Nelsen, Neuphants feat. Zendy, Nick Langford, Rob Janos, Ronald Lindsay & Buddy Vassie, Shane Devon and Tim Trainer! Thanks to everyone who submitted and if you don't hear your cover in this week's episode, we WILL play everything we were sent on an episode in the near future!

Are you ready for the ultimate test of Jack White trivia? One of your humble co-hosts had better be, because this episode is the return of our POP QUIZ series - and this time James is in the hot seat! Last year, James lead Paul to believe that they would be discussing a nondescript old-timey blues man during their recording session, when BAM. It was pop quiz time. It's one thing to prepare for a quiz...it's another to be put on the spot, and hey - YOU try to name every track on Horehound without looking! That's tough! Well, James is about to get a taste of his own medicine (and i've heard he has no faith in medicine) when the turntables turn and this time Paul springs the POP QUIZ TRAP! Play along at home and see if you can best the score of a man who literally co-hosts a Jack White fan podcast - we want to hear your results! Plus, Third Person Luke Sinclare joins us once again to pose some questions of his own, and to take a White Stripes sporcle quiz in real time. So put on your TMR trivia caps and let loose a battle cry - it's time to enter the trivia arena and fight to conquer a quiz! Coooooooonquuuuuessst!

How would YOU sequence The White Stripes debut album? What songs would you add on, or cut from, Get Behind Me Satan? What makes a perfect Jack White record to you? This week on the Third Men Podcast, we're digging deep to find the answers to these questions and more in the first chapter of a new recurring series: DIFFERENT STRIPES. Special guest Luke Sinclare joins your humble co-hosts to take a journey into the world of alternate history, where we're free to re-sequence, re-record or just plain re-imagine the albums we all know and love by the band that started it all - The White Stripes. For this inaugural episode, we've picked two records which hold a special place in the trajectory of Jack & Meg's grand experiment: 1999's The White Stripes self-titled debut album, and 2005's experimental masterpiece Get Behind Me Satan. We'll debate which song(s) could possibly take the place of Blue Orchid, which tracks could have worked as singles or EPs, how many songs make up the perfect track count for an LP, and much much more. Will there be laughing? Yes. Will there be screaming? Oh yes. Will we walk away with drastically different interpretations of some of our favorite records? Hey - that's the whole point! So sit back and enjoy this excessively fun episode, and be sure to let us know what YOU would do with these records!

The Third Men Podcast is proud to present an all-new extended interview with Chris Lyons of New Orleans Garage-Psych crew Silver Synthetic! Their excellent new self-titled debut LP drops on April 9th from Third Man Records, and we had the pleasure of sitting down with the group's lead singer and principle songwriter to talk about how Silver Synthetic formed, how the album came about, and what series of circumstances caught the eye of TMR co-founder and co-owner Ben Swank. Listeners to the show will remember your humble co-hosts singing the praises of last year's Out of the Darkness EP release, which introduced us to four tracks from the band - two of which, Unchain Your Heart and Out of the Darkness, also appear on their eponymous debut record. Chris runs down all eight album cuts with us on the show, gives us some insight into his own musical roots, and delves deep into the struggles of launching a new group amidst the ever-present realities of a global pandemic. It's blazing rock'n'roll, thought-provoking discussion, and a rumination on the Golden Nugget Flea Market this week on the Third Men Podcast! We'd like to thank Mr. Lyons for joining us, and we hope you all go and pick up Silver Synthetic's new record available wherever fine music is sold.

The Third Men Podcast is thrilled to welcome back returning guests Alex Guaraldi and Jordan Collins from Coppersound Pedals to walk through the long and innovative history of Jack White's usage of color! Since last we spoke with Alex and Jordan, their groundbreaking Triplegraph pedal has been doing gangbusters for Third Man Hardware, sparking interest from musicians and collectors alike with its user-friendly interface and elegant design. Coppersound's collaborator on the Triplegraph, Jack White, played a key role in using color to highlight the design features of this inventive new pedal - but that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Jack White's savvy application of color in his art and projects. When The White Stripes burst onto the Detroit rock scene in the late 90's, their distinctive red, white and black color scheme became a hallmark of the band's presentation, and a memorable audio-visual connection that would help propel the group to the heights of rock'n'roll stardom in the years to come. Whether you're standing in the red, red rain, tasting some black bat licorice or sniffing yourself a blue orchid - Jack White's music through the course of his entire career has carried with it a unique synchronicity with the world of color. Indeed, each of Jack's musical projects carries with it a unique color scheme, and in this episode we've drafted the Coppersound guys to help us detail as many colorful connections as we can find! From The Raconteurs' inconspicuous green and copper tones, to Jack White solo's ubiquitous blue - we tour through it all and manage to have a ridiculous amount of fun in the process. We'll say one thing - this is the single most prevalent use of the word "synesthesia" we've ever featured on the show! So brace yourself for a fun, informative and (dare I say) insightful time ahead of you this week on the Third Men Podcast, and thanks to Alex and Jordan for joining us!

Now we wanna, be your POD! Now we wanna, be your POD! Well c'mon! This week we're turning our attention to a friendship made in Detroit rock heaven: Jack White and Iggy Pop! When the legendary Stooges debuted in Michigan in 1967, audiences weren't quite prepared for the level of extremes this hard-edged rock'n'roll band were ready to go to. Frontman Iggy Pop shocked captivated concert-goers with antics that would wind up laying the groundwork for the punk rock movement nearly ten years later, as well as grab the attention of countless rock'n'roll royalty - in particular one Mr. David Bowie. Though The Stooges would break up in 1974 (before reforming decades later), Iggy would continue on with over a dozen solo albums to his name - some of which (along with the treasured Stooges albums) made their way to a young Jack White as he embarked on his own Michigan rock sojourn. Jack and Iggy linked up during the heights of The White Stripes fame and over the course of the last 20 years have shared some interesting and award-winning moments that we're out to detail on the show today. PLUS - in the spirit of famous friendships, The Third Men podcast and the wonderful new movie review podcast Let Me Introduce You have linked up to bring you an overview of another famous Jack White friendship: John C. Reilly. This past February we sat down with Katie, Graham and Ashley to discuss Reilly's 2007 mock-umentary film Walk Hard in which Jack was cast as Elvis Presley for a hilarious scene involving karate chops and country gibberish. We'll discuss the movie, Reilly's various collaborations with Jack over the years, and more in this extended segment. Of course, of all the famous friendships we're covering today - the greatest is that of us and our listeners (cue the studio audience "aww") so take a seat friend, and enjoy the show!