Nik Ewing is a visual artist, a bass player, keyboardist and founding member of LA based band Local Natives. His second LP, ‘Songs For Linnéa, a collection of piano songs written for his first child, is available now under his solo moniker Chewing.  Nik share’s his experience of growing up in a musical household in San Diego, his first bands influences and how that has extended to the Local Natives songwriting.  We learn why he wanted the listener to feel “in the room” on Songs For Linnéa  what he did to make it a documentation of his child’s early years. Joe and Nick discuss their approaches to cover songs and how Cat Power inspired Nik’s approach to covering a Beetles song on the new record. Nik tells us why he sometimes puts out music anonymously and we hear a couple tunes.

Chewing

Local Natives

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This week Joe sneaks in Ep 1 of Ruinous Media's newest podcast, La Jolla Babylon: The Making Of A Suburban Punk.

Your host, musician and writer Aaron Hartman, shares stories about his stormy youth growing up punk in a conservative beach town with his Millennial sister, actor, writer and comedian Katie Hartman. 

What emerges is a series of hilarious, poignant, and brutally honest weekly episodes that delve into the stark differences in their upbringings, despite being siblings.

La Jolla Babylon:The Making Of A Suburban Punk

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Aaron Hartman is a writer, musician and podcaster based in Portland, Oregon. He is a founding member and bass player of Northwest indie legends Old Time Relijun, electro dance-rock pioneers IQU and releases music under the moniker Marine Layer. His newest endeavor, La Jolla Babylon-The Making Of A Suburban Punk, (out 10.18 via Ruinous Media) is a poignant and hilarious podcast where Aaron shares stories about his stormy youth growing up punk in a conservative beach town with his Millennial sister, actor, writer and comedian Katie Hartman. In this episode, Joe and Aaron get to the bottom of their first meeting and how Olympia’s music scene’s eventual acceptance of Joe led to the two playing together in the Replikants. Aaron shares how the struggle to publish his fictionalized memoir led to his new podcast, why he asked his sister Katie to join him and why it’s a platform for he and Katie to celebrate their closeness and rapport. The two quip about changing the narrative with their longtime friend Sara Lund and Aaron shares an outrageous story about sperm donation and how his older sister wrote a play inspired by the experience.

Marine Layer

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Pinhead Gunpowder is an East Bay punk band formed in 1991. The current line up consists of Aaron Cometbus (lyrics, drums), Bill Schneider (bass) Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, vocals) and Jason White (guitar, vocals). After 16 years and several EP’s, the band will release their second full length LP, Unt, on October 18th via 1234 Go! Records.  Bill and Jason share the origin of their rock n roll relationship, how the band ultimately formed and why their spacious cadence of activity has never resulted in a lack of enthusiasm or energy for the band.  We learn how Aaron’s lyrical phrasing guides the chord changes, why trust comes so easy in their collective song writing and how a game they play in rehearsal lead to writing the new record.  The two tell us why this record sounds different to them, they share their experience working with producer Chris Dugan and they explain the meaning of Unt. They discuss why Bill isn’t allowed to be a cobbler, what Jason does at home when not on the road with Green Day and we hear couple brand new tunes. 

Pinhead Gunpowder

1234 Go Records

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James Petralli is the singer, guitarist, and a founding member of White Denim. Their twelfth record “12” is set to be released on 12.12 via Bella Union.  James shares his journey from baseball to rock n roll, how the “absurd career choice” paralleled his dad’s and why learning how to talk about music was his ticket into his formative music circles. James tells us how “12” is drastically different from previous White Denim records, why he thinks being creative is inarguably the most positive thing he can do, and he explains his process of “live mixing”. Joe and James celebrate airport reverberations, what role confrontation plays in James’s live performance and we hear a couple rip roaring tunes.  

White Denim

Bella Union

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Jayan Bertrand is a singer, songwriter, guitarist and founding member of Miami based band Seafoam Walls. Their anticipated sophomore effort, Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room, will be out October 18th via Dion Dia Records, with two singles Humanitarian Pt. II and Cabin Fever out now.  Jayan explains how their last stint of touring both inspired and funded the new record, allowing them to go into the studio more clear headed and intentional than their debut release. Joe and Jayan exchange their views on the dilution of counterculture from the perspective of touring musicians and how their experiences were different. Jayan shares his love for harmonizing guitars, the band Deerhoof, and tells us how his writing has evolved to a more collaborative process.  We learn why the band integrated samples and pads into their acoustic drum sound, Jayan hips us to a regional Chattanoogan fruit and we hear a couple tunes.

Seafoam Walls

Dion Dia

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Soph Nathan is a singer, guitarist, songwriter and founding member of London based Our Girl. Their second full length record, The Good Kind, is due out November 8th via Bella Union. Soph shares the relief and excitement she’s feeling after a 6 gap between the Our Girl records. We hear why the band likes to play songs live before recording them, how the influence of Warpaint came to fruition with the new record and Soph explains how lyrics and music operate as an unconscious coping and adapting mechanism.  Joe and Soph exchange thoughts on “tour health”, celebrate the beauty of panning positions in a mix and we hear a couple new songs.

Our Girl

Bella Union

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Scott McCloud is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has been a founding member of Girls Against Boys, New Wet Kojak and Soulside. He continues to tour extensively, performs acoustically, and operates in various projects including Agrio and Paramount Styles. In this episode, Scott shares a story where a simple misunderstanding of gratitude leads to a confusing, riotous, and even violent reaction from the crowd when his band Operator opened for Placebo in Lisbon.   Joe and Scott discuss what this good intention turned bad tells us about humans in large groups, selective communication, crowd tipping points and why Scott still thinks about this show today. Music by Operator. A special thank you to John Schmersal for generously funding this episode.

GVSB

Paramount Styles

Agrio

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Justin R. Cruz Gallego is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer based in Tacoma, WA. His newest record and Sub Pop debut, Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra), is a cohesive, hooky noise odyssey laden with powerful beats, electronic layering and analog warmth. Justin shares his process of building the new songs and ultimately taking to a live setting. He also tells us how hitting a production ceiling was a healthy motivator to co-producing the record with Seth Manchester at Machines With Magnets. We hear how the Latin music he grew up listening to seeped into the songs, Joe and Justin discuss the graduation rate of Berklee College of Music students and we hear a couple tunes.

J.R.C.G

Subpop

Machines with Magnets

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Sameer Gadhia is the singer and a founding member of Young The Giant. He also hosts the podcast Point Of Origin, which celebrates the lives and careers of musicians of color in the indie and alternative rock world. In this episode, Joe recovers an early recording where Sameer shares a few YTG experiences of being celebrated in Italy at the height of their hit single, Cough Syrup. We hear about the confusion of covering American Girl in front of a massive, lightly anti-American crowd; classic lip-syncing pranks; the hilarity of an entire country mispronouncing you’re biggest song and some daring yet cerebral food choices.

Young The Giant

Point Of Origin Podcast

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