Third Gear Scratch

Larry Crane is the founder and creative force behind Tape Op Magazine and is a legendary producer/engineer at Jackpot! Studios in Portland that he started with Elliott Smith in 1997. We explore his journey from Chico CA and his early band Vomit Launch, their successes and ultimate demise, his initial hatred of Portland to the full embrace it is today, and how meeting amazing people is the main thrill for him with Tape Op, a magazine with a subscription rate the biggies would kill, or die for. 

Rocker/frontman/wunderkind Gregg Todt has been an on-air producer in KC at 98.9 The Rock for over 25 years with his partner Johnny Dare and has deftly navigated the choppy waters of being the libtard at a classic rock station, all the while making some of the meanest rocknroll ever with his band Federation of Horsepower, playing huge gigs with bands like Judas Priest and Motorhead and successfully raising his young son to know the pure beauty of music. 

Although Guitarist/Songwriter Grant Fitch is slow to take credit for the schools of A&R sharks circling Lawrence KS and KCMO after his band Paw was scooped in a feeding frenzy in '92, he parlayed the experience into his next project Palomar, a more country-tinged outfit before pivoting completely into his first love of photography and ultimately into his own production company, Electrical Odyssey, adding scores of TV and film credits to his resume, all while raising a young family. 

Amy Dietz is the GM and EVP at InGrooves Music Group and got her start at Red Decibal Records in Minneapolis in the early 90's when they signed KC's Season To Risk, before moving to ADA for the next 15 years and learning on-the-job to navigate the choppy waters of the transition years from hard-copy CD/LP/Cassette world to the file sharing of today, and how her love of music (and in particular early Judas Priest) has made it easy for her to focus on what her mission has been through it all; to help bring artists music and their lives work to the most people possible.

Bandleader/Songwriter/Singer Ryan Heise walks us patiently through his days crafting songs with his musical offspring, Portlands own System and Station and now Last Giant on the eve of their new release Let The End Begin produced by Paul Malinowski, with a lifetime schedule that balances work and rock effortlessly, all while living on the edge of uncertainty with the pandemic, the protests in Portland, and now seemingly endless wildfires plaguing Oregon and California.

Writer/Director/Actor Chris Papierniak visits the TGS studios to set the record straight about how exactly he ended up as the director for the NBA 2k franchise creating the "My Career" narrative and working with the biggest names in the NBA and Hollywood, not to mention his feature length film Izzy Gets The %$#@ Across Town featuring McKenzie Davis and Carrie Coon and also he explains how to make a theatrical release for $150k, all while raising a family in southern CA. 

Producer/Engineer/Shredder Mike Lust is a Chicago institution and his bands Luster King and Tight Phantomz have given this true rock and roll showman the perfect forum to shine. Mike opens up as we open cans of truth serum to hear him reflect on his prolific career as owner of Phantom Manor Studio and the many artists he's produced, Van Halen's impact on him and how to create a real rock show, why his bands play such short sets, how he twice started a pod very much like this one, and how he has created his giant outsized on-stage personality as a way of dealing with loss. 

Before guitarist Zach Blair joined Rise Against in 2007, he and his brother Doni started the melodic punk rock giants Hagfish, and later went on to write songs for and tour with GWAR, among others. Zach talks about growing up in Texas, his dads influence on his career path, his brothers protectiveness, how his life changed by joining one of the biggest bands in the U.S., and how music has been his only drug his entire life and credits that with his success. 

Frontman/singer Joe Carsello of Lazers and Fast And Shit is also the Sr Talent Buyer at the Metro in Chicago and is uniquely qualified to understand the dire situation that all live music venues are facing in the CV era, in addition to how to deal with depression--talk therapy and noise-making and label-starting. We talk about the last night Metro was open, how they are faring and the surreal nature of it all, how we can all help to keep these fabled venues alive, and what brings him joy in these difficult days. Creativity and his new band Surgery Boys! 

Chicago singer / songwriter Angie Mead gently walks us down her path as we discuss depression therapy through noise-making and micro-dosing, how she effortlessly toggles her voice between the dulcet tones of Dolly to the siren wail of Ozzy, her time on the Netflix show Easy opposite Marc Maron, how she taught herself to play her guitar upside down for her band RedGrave and then licensed those songs for TV shows like Shameless and many indie films.