Today's guest is our friend Kevin Phillips, talking about one of our collective favorite bands, albums and artists - "What to say about such a complex and abundant subject that’s been a longstanding touchstone for aficionados of repetitive noise and abrasive melody! As a nearly life-long disciple of Mark E. Smith and his unrepentant arrangements, I chose The Fall’s debut album, ‘Live at the Witch Trials’, for our discussion.  As hypnotizing or electrifying as the Fall became in dozens and dozens of moments across their 31-album catalog, ‘Live at the Witch Trials’ contains the unrefined initial surprise attack stream of consciousness rhythmic repetition amid scrambling guitar strings that must surely become trademark joy of any fully realized Fall fan!!  A challenging gateway to a musical landscape that developed into a myriad of different compelling and/or disorienting studies of the initial concept! Enjoy!!

Today's episode is with our good friend Blake Rainey regarding one of the greatest albums of all time, The Replacements "Tim": Ultimately, I chose the Replacements “Tim” because I knew it would be a lot of fun to talk about with Tom and James. Anyone who seriously loves rock n’ roll and indie music in general has had a relationship with the Replacements at some point, be it good or bad. They always felt like kindred spirits to me, growing up a lost and lonely wild-spirited teen in small-town Georgia. Yet they were city kids who came into their own with a budding music scene already in place, and in their backyards, which was equally foreign and fascinating to me.

“Tim” seemed to have it all - solid anthemic rockers and devastating ballads, with some throwaway lyrics and serious wordplay happening side-by-side. To a musical teenager, it was like the coolest way an American rock band could ever dream of writing a song. They were fun and dangerous, dumb and smart, and energetic like no other band that played by their own set of rules, success be damned. What’s not to love?

p.s. The Tim remix album is the shit.  Blast it!

https://www.facebook.com/blakeraineyandhisdemons/

https://blakerainey.bandcamp.com/

Our special guest on today's episode is our dear friend Melanie Harmon, who is also joined by Chad Wiener as a guest host as well. Melanie and Chad go back to our high school days of attending shows at the Masquerade in Atlanta, and all the fun, thrilling, scary, formative times we had. The Primus show around 1991 at the Masquerade was a legendary show that we have discussed on other episodes (e.g. Kelly Hester's Episode 37), but it was nice to revisit one of their great albums with a lifelong superfan of their music. This was a nostalgic epsiode, and we thank Melanie for being a part of it and sharing her love of Primus!

On today's episode, we have a conversation with our old friend (and James' oldest friend), Chad Wiener - along with special guest host Melanie Harmon! "Hailing from Matton, Illinois, the Didjits released their first album on Touch and Go, “Hey Judester,” in 1988. The world, or at least my small world, would not be the same. Gravitating towards any and all punk bands in the summer of 1989, the Didjits was one band that stuck out to me. They had attitude, humor, loud guitars, shrieking vocals, deafening drums and bass,but, most of all, just in-your-face rock’n’roll with all the punk brashness and arrogance you could handle. This record (really, dubbed cassette, but I would come to buy it later, and even the CD with their first record, “Fizzjob”) would have heavy rotation in my car or home stereo, and it would shape the sound, attitude, and lyrics of the band I would come to form with friends Jason Albert, James Joyce, Eric Minnick, and Brian Lysne, the Midget Farmers. There is never a dull moment on this record, from the blazing speed of “Max Wedge” to the slow grind of “Under the Christmas Fish” to the ballad my band covered, “Dad,” and nine other songs that Rick Sims likely wrote while high. So, come join me, Chad Wiener, with Cassy, James, and Melanie Harmonas we return to the early 90s to relive the glory days of the second coming of punk."

Out guest on today's episode is our new friend Jacob Gunter @whereis.jacob, @moonage.music : Although Youth of America isn’t my favorite Wipers album, it holds a special place in the Wipers discography, particularly of their early work. Stylistically it feels transitional without any loss of conviction, almost as if Greg Sage is putting down stakes. Songs like Pushing the Extreme could be a repudiation of Punk’s abandonment of core principles, and with songs running past the 10 min. mark it’s clear the Wipers were not playing to anyone but themselves. They made the road by walking. 

Youth of America, and the Wipers, are a relatively new discovery for me. It’s not an album that I’ve lived with for a lot of years so I’m still growing into it. That does makes it a bit more challenging to speak about; however, in response to the personal and immediate impact they and Greg Sage have had on me I wanted to shine a light on it. If I had heard YOA and the Wipers years ago, I likely would have listened too fast and missed them. As it turns out, they’re exactly what I need now.

Greg Sage forever!

From our good friend and guest on today's show, Diane Coll: "Late 1979. Young teenage girl strolling by the local headshop/record store in LaGrange, IL spots an album in the storefront window.  She buys it without hearing a song on it. I mean, who could resist the stark white backdrop and Chrissie's cool red leather jacket.  Young girl goes home and has a full 47 minutes of jaw-dropping glee and empowerment. It was okay to be angry, to be vulnerable, to be sexual, and to be in charge, all unapologetically. Young teenage girl's life was forever changed, and she didn't leave her bedroom until every note of the guitar solo on "Kid" was learned.  Her favorite line, "I'll never feel like a man in a man's world," remains her favorite today."

Our guest for this episode is our good friend from Philadelphia, Jason Clouser "I picked Mush by Leatherface because I'd never heard of them before 5 years ago. Tom Cheshire introduced them to me. And this record instantly became one of my favorites . Frankie's a monster singer, beautiful lyricist and this record deserves to be talked about!" 

Tom Cheshire provided the testimonial for one of our favorite bands and albums, I believe the first greatest hits compilation of our show, Ramones Mania! "Sometimes it's fun to break the rules, or just reinvent them. Although this isn't an album, RAMONES MANIA is a greatest hits record, it's the first Ramones record I bought. Later I bought every individual album. They were that important to me. Coming from their neighborhood, Forest Hills, Queens, New York, made me love them even more. Hometown Heroes gone good. My Brother Scott once referred to The Ramones as our Beatles. I knew Casey and B Kinch would be the perfect people to talk to about this record. We all discovered this band and this particular record about the same time, through skateboarding and BMX bikes, and our weird friends, and in the case of B Kinch, his babysitter. The Ramones are comic book characters that have come to life, that sing about weird beautiful things and about being outsiders, and we all connected with it. This is my favorite greatest hits record. I hope you enjoy this episode. Also BLAST this whole record from start to finish. You can thank me later."  

- Tom Cheshire 

On today's episode, we talk to our friend Alli Yarbrough about Feel the Steel! "So the reason i chose this specific album, Feel the Steel, is because it got me thru the pandemic. I started listening to it in Oct of 2020 and it really made the rest of Covid bearable. I love that Steel Panther doesn’t take themselves too seriously; however, they are SERIOUSLY badass musicians. They used to be a Van Halen cover band called Atomic Punks, then Metal Skool and finally Steel Panther. Michael Star has the pipes, Satchel has the guitar chops, Stix Zadinia has the rhythm with his drums and Lexi Foxxx has the bass groove, the lip gloss and hairspray. Casey got us tickets to see them in 2021 and paid for a Cameo happy birthday song to me from the one and only Satchel. And at their show, they knew i was going to be there, so they wished me a happy birthday and dedicated a very raunchy song to me! This album is so fun to listen to. If you don't take yourself too seriously either, i recommend you FEEL THE STEEL"

From our dear friend and guest on today's show, Chad LeBlanc: "I picked this record because when I first heard it at age 12 it completely changed everything for me. Musically it inspired me in countless ways - and it made me realize that puffy hair and good looking dudes weren't necessary to be awesome. They looked like dudes who hang out at the gas station and drink beer from quart bottles. Perfect. 80 is my single favorite piece of music of all time. Cheers!"