Happy (American) Thanksgiving to all TM pod listeners! I’m delighted to say TM pod ep. 66 marks the first ever podcast appearance, here or anywhere else, of musician, friend, founding Unwound member Brandt Sandeno!

Brandt and I talk about his musical origin story beginning as a teen at Tumwater High School with his (pre-Unwound) Giant Henry bandmates Justin Trosper and Vern Rumsey. He describes how as a passionate guitarist, he was the band’s drummer out of necessity and was happy to turn over the throne to Sara Lund not long after G.H.’s name change.

Brandt went on to play keyboards with Unwound and would throughout the years frequently collaborate with Justin in other projects such as Survival Knife, The Young Ginns, Replikants among others. He shares a ton of great stories and paints a vivid picture of the influential Olympia music scene of the 80’s and 90’s from his perspective as a local kid growing up in that fertile place and time.

The two of us also get into some funny tales of our time as co-workers at K Records and in the halls of power at the Washington State capitol.

Hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did making it. Thank you for listening!

Music:

Survival Knife 'Divine Mob'

Giant Henry 'Chris Jordan'

TM pod theme by Jason

Survival Knife

Unwound self titled LP featuring Brandt

Support the pod! 

The podcast is back baby! Artist, musician, dear friend of the pod, Tae Won Yu is also back! Season Three of the TMpod begins now with episode 65.

I certainly don’t need any special excuse to have Tae on the pod but I am very pleased to be able to have him on at this moment to celebrate the release of The Antiquarian Sticker Book: Imaginarium. The new third installment of his much beloved and successful series on MacMillan/Odd Dot.

Tae and I talk about the book and his process and experience gathering and creating the images that fill its pages. We discuss flow states, fallow states and the editorial thinking that must be kept at bay when the muse is at hand. Tae is a friend and artist I have admired and marveled at for decades now and it’s always inspiring to learn more about his thinking and process, I’m sure listeners will be similarly delighted to hear his take.

I also mention in the intro how much making and listening to music has been helping me through the challenging days I’ve been through recently. I have added a new feature to episodes this season: I will be playing a song at the end of each episode. Thanks for listening!

Music:

‘Milquetoast Brigade’ by The Go Team with Jeffery Kennedy

'The Best I Can Do' Song of the week by Jason

Support the pod:

Patreon

Additional links of stuff mentioned this episode:

Heart ‘Crazy on You’ Live 2013

Scandal: ‘The Warrior’ Live 2006

Adam Phillips talking about his book ’Missing Out’

This week’s episode marks the return of pod favorite, old school San Diego ‘Slow Death’ punk and underground skate legend Andy Newton aka OMA aka Old Man Andy aka Lord Shanty.

Our freewheeling conversation takes the listener back to his pre-punk teenage years when he was listening to Ted Nugent, ditchin’ school, skating drainage ditches and smoking ditch weed as a member of The Chula Vista Cruisers skate team. Andy breaks down the legendary spots that preceded the arrival of the first skate parks in the San Diego area.

We dissect the blurry lines he navigated between Hard Rock, New Wave and Punk Rock and how in the end it doesn’t really matter as long as you’re stoked! There’s plenty of San Diego/Tijuana punk history with tales of beaches, the border, bands and of course brawls because this was ‘Slow Death’ one of the country’s most notoriously violent punk scenes in that rough and tumble late 70’s early 80’s era.

Be sure to check out Lord Shanty’s previous appearance on TM Pod episode 10 and follow him on instagram to keep up with his adventures carving the empty pools of Chula Vista today.

Thank you SO MUCH for listening and HUGE thank you to our Patreon and Anchor contributors!

LINKS

 OMA instagram

mentioned in the pod:

'Friends of Shawn' Shawn Kerri instagram

Support the pod:

TM POD patreon

Music:

Battalion of Saints 'Cops Are Out'

Mad Society 'Riot Squad'

TM pod Theme by Jason

The pod is back! This episode I let you all in on what’s been going on, how it’s going now and where the pod is going in the future. I explain how a couple of months ago pod momentum and all creative practices were derailed by a series of unforeseen illnesses in the family. Life suddenly got very focused on my immediate reality and not much else.

I share some of the practices and teachings that have helped me through this challenging time, specifically the guidance I’ve found in the straightforward, simple yet profound teachings of Pema Chodron author and American Buddhist nun trained in the Tibetan tradition. Her words about meditation, mindfulness, and loving awareness have been essential.

As I explain in the episode, along with my own contribution, I donated all the money I received from our generous pod supporters these two silent months to three GoFundMe’s. (THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!) Below you will find links to these very worthy campaigns if you’d like to contribute further.

From the bottom of my heart I’d like to thank you all for listening and sticking with the pod, it means so much to me. Stay tuned for many great guests in future weeks and months. Love you all!

Readings:

Chogyam Trungpa: 'Working with negativity'

Pema Chodron 'Comfortable with Uncertainty'

Pema Chodron 'How We get Hooked By Shenpa and How We Get Unhooked'

GoFundMe:

Rop Vasquez medical GoFundMe

Reuben Lorch-Miller medical GoFundme

Victims of Portland's February fascist gun attack GoFundMe

Music sample: 

Code of Honor 'What Price Would Pay'

I didn't plan on taking a pod hiatus but that's what happened! Feels good to be back with EPISODE 62 a conversation with my dear friend, author, bassist, DC Punk, Seth Lorinczi. 

Our conversation covers how his early fascination with the 70's Mod Revival led him to 60's garage rock and punk before discovering and becoming enmeshed in the very vital, now-legendary harDCore scene happening right in his own backyard. Seth tells us about reuniting as a teenager with his childhood best friend Tim Green to form DC psyche-punk misfits The Vile Cherubs  and how joining the recently relocated Circus Lupus gave him a new start in music at the dawn of the 90's.

Beyond exploring his musical biography we go deep into our shared fascination with ayahuasca and other plant medicines and the profound impact they have had and continue to have on our lives. He also talks specifically about the benefits he has experienced working with MDMA in a therapeutic setting. Enjoy the ride! Thank you for listening!

Seth's website

Seth's instagram

Non-Duality / Nisargadatta Maharaj

SUPPORT THE POD! Thank you!

Music:

Circus Lupus 'New Cop Car'

Vile Cherubs 'The Man with the Photograph'

Theme by Jason

A short update on all things TraegerMethod and a springtime message of gratitude to all pod guests, listeners and supporters.

Check out Jason's upcoming shows with Hutch Harris! new episodes COMING SOON!

April 29th Astoria OR

 May 1st Portland @ Kelly's Olympian downtown

Music:

The Fartz 'You Got a Brain'

Other music by jason

Freshly returned from his recent east coast Verbal Assault reunion tour, Pete Chramiec has returned to the TMpod as well.

It is always a delight to catch up with Pete. Our conversation covers his experience on the VA 'two-er' (the band played two shows), his fear of having preshow diarrhea (he didn't!) and how wild it was for this 'humble carpenter' to take the stage again after all these years.

We cover a ton of other stuff like house building, A-frames, my job at Amazon and the madness and tragedy of Putin's idiotic war in Ukraine. It's a perfect episode that perfectly sums up what it is to be TMpod episode 61.

Thank you for listening and for supporting the pod!!!

Things we mentioned:

Battle for the South of Ukraine

Putin's Road to War

Music:

Verbal Assault 'Running'

Verbal Assault 'They're Talking'

TMpod theme by Jason

SUPPORT THE PODCAST THANK YOU:

PATREON

Episode 60 is a conversation with west coast punk rock veteran and practicing therapist Pete Normal. 

Though we never met 'back in the day' our time spent in many of the same cities and our web of mutual friendships made talking with Pete feel like I was visiting with an old friend. In addition to our shared cultural and musical history we share a deep interest in mental health, personal transformation and spiritual growth. We talk about how his life in music and his interest in these subjects led him later in life to pursue the work he does today as a licensed clinical social worker and therapist.

It's a fun, inspiring and sometimes surprising conversation: I mean how many therapists do you know who found themselves on a neo-nazi hit list when they were teenagers? Well, after you listen to this episode, you'll know at least one!

Thanks for listening and for supporting the podcast!

For more Punk Rock Therapy talk: 

Tony Mengis' Titanic Reaction Podcast

MUSIC:

Lazyboy 'Fill It'

Hooray For Everything 'Step Away'

TM Pod Theme by Jason

Support The TM PODCAST

Patreon

Venmo: @Jason-Traeger-1

Episode 59 is a conversation with my old friend Olympia based musician, artist, world / interdimensional traveller, Arrington de Dionyso.

It was so good to sit down with Arrington in person in my painting studio a couple weeks back to record this conversation. I've long admired his singular, steadfast approach to art and music making over the decades we've been friends. His passion and creative fire shines through in everything he does and this light has been a consistent inspiration to me over the years. I'm happy to share this conversation.

We cover wide ranging territory starting with his musical roots in the Spokane punk scene of the 80's. He describes the profound impact seeing live touring bands like The Go-Team, Steel Pole Bathtub and NoMeansNo had on him as a teenager. We go on to visit some highlights of his world travels including his time with The Master Musicians of Joujouka and interdimensional explorations with plant medicines. We cover the history of his long running band Old Time Relijun and so much more.

Thank you for listening! 

Arrington de Dionyso bandcamp

Arrington de Dionyso instagram

Become a Traegermethod Podcast Supporter $5 a month!  Patreon

Music: 

Old Time Relijun 'Tigers in the Temple'

Old Time Relijun'Cold Water'

TM Pod theme by Jason

My guest this week is Portland based singer, songwriter of insanely catchy punk music Hutch Harris. You know Hutch from his years fronting The Thermals and if you're hip, you are keeping up with his new solo music exemplified by his perfect Covid-era lofi bedroom LP 'Suck Up All the Oxygen'. During our conversation he also tells us we can look forward to listening to his new band Clear Rivers. 

We talk about Hutch's life in music and we get deep into his love of the TraegerMethod podcast. This conversational thread leads us to a general celebration of the benefits of coming of age and livings one's life in artistic community. It's feels like a good thing to focus on in this week where war, division and confusion seems to have taken center stage in many of our hearts and minds. I'm glad to share our conversation with you dear listener.

LINKS:

My Guest:

Other episode mentions:

Support victims of Portland mass shooting fascist attack

(All proceed from this month's TM pod will go to this fund)

Come Closer (thank you J Wang!)

SUPPORT THE PODCAST: PATREON

Music:

Hutch Harris: 'Suck Up All the Oxygen'

Hutch Harris: "I Used to Think I Was Beautiful'

TM theme: Jason

Fundraising break background sounds by:

Jay Shingle