Third Gear Scratch

The pandemic takes its toll on everyone in different ways and Sarah Shook is not unique in that it yielded a new record, but this music was a new sort of fruit from a fresh vine. Sarah's delivery and metrics have up to now hewed to an 'outlaw country' quilt but these songs stood out from their work with Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. They leaned towards pop, yes, but a spartan and economized version of smart indie rock with melodies that also dovetail their country roots. The result is a new band Mightmare and the accompanying debut album Cruel Liars (Kill Rock Stars) due October 14th '22 with tours to follow. It's been a dusty road for this ex-bartender, atheist, vegan, pansexual and now sober singer/songwriter, but the future is very bright indeed.

AE goes back in the vault for a loving reexamination of his conversation on with actor Patrick Fabian (Ep. 37) of Better Call Saul as the high powered attorney Howard Hamlin. We talk about his time and tenure on BCS as that iconic series has just wrapped its final season, in which Patrick's character is central. There's even more poignancy and relevance in the rearview context of the Covid pandemic looming just after this conversation. Patrick is a rigorously prepared for every audition and for when he walks on the set. He has relentless drive and is relentless about staying ahead of the hustle and to expect disappointment along the way. A thoughtful rap with an absolute pro.

When drummer Zach Barocas began to play with his legendary band Jawbox again in late 2017 to rehearse for some reunion shows, he wasn't sure exactly how that might play out given they hadn't been in the same room together for about 20 years. Turns out, it went so well they're still playing shows now and in fact will be playing Riot Fest in September 2022. Zach has been creatively busy with his bands The Up On In, The Bells, and now New Freedom Sounds with some guys like J Robbins, Gordon Withers and Tom Cisneros that makes music that is related to but doesn't live in the same house as standard jazz. It's a very fresh take on that medium built and arranged by Zach over the pandemic months, at the same time that he and his wife have opened a boutique stationary shop in Brooklyn called Measure Twice that has become a...calling card for Zach.

Our handsome host Allen Epley goes guestless for this episode to take time to reflect and wax on the state of his state of mind. It is the eve of his 54th birthday and the week before his twins fly the coop for college and leave their parents alone at home at once, both elated and broken; free at last or utterly rudderless. Raising kids is a dangerous business; to love someone so much with the knowledge that if all goes right, they will leave you in 18 or so years and break your heart. Turning 54 is an achievement also considering the life spent making music and what it has taken to make ends meet and still make quality music for long periods of time and create relationships across the globe, not to mention with the guys in your band. It's these revelations that are pondered and given thanks and gratitude for, and for the listeners of this therapy session masquerading as a podcast.

Drummer Ian Prince couldn't have predicted that at this time in his life he'd be making music again with the same two men who he really needed time away from in 2004 when Houston had been on the road for long stretches. After Houston's implosion, he formed Story of the Sea with his brother Adam Prince to make several albums of high level song craftsmanship, he played with Minneapolis' Porcupine, Soul Asylum and famously also BirdHands. But it's Houston that made such a profound impact on their fans with their brand of post pre indie prog shoe staring. Not only have they been making new music and indeed a new album to boot(!) they've also been enjoying reentering each others lives again to embrace the thing they do the best.

Terrance Hannum, synth-ist and keyboardist in his darkly beautiful drone-core band Locrian, doesn't set out everyday to be the most creative human on earth, but more often than not, something does indeed get made. Between his job as a professor of 3D Printing and digital fabrication and his life in Locrian, he also manages to write award-winning fiction, pulls haunting images out of his soul for his oil paintings and sculptures of dead flowers, and uses cassette tape to powerful effect of structured minimalism. Locrian has a new record called New Catastrphisms out August 12th (Profound Lore) produced and recorded mostly live by none other than J Robbins (Jawbox/Burning Airlines) to profound results. It continues with their string of celebrated records in a vein of music not unlike the beautifully disturbing and heavily weighted pieces of Hildur Guðnadóttir and the Chernobyl soundtrack.

Stephan "The Kid" Howard was christened thusly by the old blues players he first began gigging with as a bassist when he was only 13 years old in Chicago, and introduced him to a universe of music and travel that changed his life in every way. His time as both drummer and baritone guitarist in the influential Chicago band Pinebender in the 90's put him in contact with musicians that continue to alter his trajectory to this day. The Kid has had his hands in so much timeless music with folks like William Elliot Whitmore, Mike Lust, James McCartney, Keely and Maura Davis in Denali (née Ambulette) and BlueManGroup. But his life has been marked by the time spent in the hospital and an immune system that has caused myriad problems, including having both hips replaced 7 times, but has never compromised his time making music.

Comic Joe Sib is that rare human who takes new endeavors that might normally intimidate the rest of us as a challenge. His punk-rock band Wax struck gold in the early 90's with a hit song California and a video directed by Spike Jonze known as the burning guy running in slow-mo video, then parlayed the success from that band into starting Side One Dummy Records, a label responsible for bands like Flogging Molly, Gogol Bordello and Gaslight Anthem among many others. Later, after the success of touring on his one-man show "Joe Sib: California Calling" he mounted the most grueling of challenges and one he'd been contemplating : life as a stand-up comic. He's toured with Jim Breuer often, even opening for Metallica for a tour, and has been a headliner across the US for the past decade, centering on a story-telling style that belies his punkrock past and leans into his life as a family man.

Documentary filmmaker and my old homie Clayton Brown revisits the TGS confines for the 2nd time to chat about his new film in which he details the work of Doug Pagitt, an activist and progressive evangelical pastor who has been protesting current immigration policies by riding his bike along the US Border from San Diego to St Augustine. For this film, Clayton has teamed with his wife Kim Sullivan as co-director and their collab has been thrilling and fruitful. Clayton and I also detail our time together making music in our college band The Industry which begat Orchid which begat Shiner, and on tour our most recent project called SpaceSuit a few years ago. Great convo with a big brain and my great friend.

Pete Moffett has been working in the music industry as a drummer in the late 80's with bands like punkrock-forefathers Government Issue and also some guy named J Robbins, in the early 90's with Wool and Franz and Pete Stahl, and then again with J Robbins in the late 90's with Burning Airlines which rose mightily from the ashes of Jawbox. But his longest tenure has been that of touring drum technician for artists like Alanis Morrisette and Kelly Clarkson, and when this interview took place he was in Europe with Whitesnake and the Scorpions as he's tech'ing for legendary metal drummer Tommy Aldridge. It's a great catchup with a prolific bizzer and an all-around sweet dude.