Witchpolice Radio

February is Black History Month, and among the many events happening across Winnipeg is Adele M. Wilding's ‘Steal Away: Songs of Hope and Resilience’, a concert focused around the tradition and history of African-American spirituals. 

Tune in for my conversation with Adele about honouring her West Indian roots, the way traditional Black music continues to show up in unexpected places even into the 21st Century, the importance of accurately preserving music history, and much more!

‘Steal Away’ takes place Feb. 21 at Crescent Arts Centre and includes a star-studded cast of local players.

Need more from Adele? Check out episodes #765 (Feb. 2023) and #866 (Jan. 2024), as well as her recent live performance at my day job (worlds are colliding).

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).

Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

Great conversation on this episode with Neville Hamilton from Steinbach reggae outfit Yaadies! 

We talk about coming to Canada and bringing Jamaican music to a very unlikely location, getting his kids involved in the family band, spreading Caribbean culture across Manitoba through IRAL Music & Arts Festival and much more!

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).

Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

Now with repaired audio! 

Veteran Winnipeg MC Len Bowen has been steadily releasing inspired hip-hop since his early days as a member of local icons Shadez. 

In our latest (of many over the years) interview, we talk about his new record ('If You Don't See Me, You Saw Me'), representing Winnipeg on a larger stage, getting recognition for his efforts, his songwriting process, and much more!

(Note: there was some weird echo/distortion on one half of of the conversation, so if you downloaded this when it first came out and haven't listened yet, go with this version instead. Thanks.)

Need more Len Bowen in your life? Check out episodes #805 (June 2023), #647 (Dec. 2021), #475 (April 2020), #207 (Nov. 2016) and episodes #355 (Feb. 2019) and #101 (Nov. 2014) with Shadez.

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).

Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

I listen to a pretty wide variety of music, so it’s rare that I get stumped on a genre, but J-Rock was a new one on me!

Tune in for my conversation with locals Solaire about anime and video game music, Paramore tribute sets, their upcoming EP release (Feb. 7 at the Handsome Daughter), and much more!

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).

Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

This episode features an interview with singer-songwriter Kris Rendina, who you may recognize from previous projects like Gold Mountain! 

We talk about his imminent solo full-length, The Moonflower Express (which will be released Feb. 5 at Sidestage), as well as peaks and valleys in songwriting, deciding to come back to music in an uncertain time, and much more.

Need more from Kris? Check out his appearances on the podcast with Gold Mountain: WR104 (Dec. 2014), WR264 (Jan. 2018), and WR498 (June 2020).

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).

Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

If you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you're probably familiar with my year-end rundowns of my favourite local (and local-adjacent) releases of the year. Usually it's this big, lengthy thing over multiple episodes, but this time I tried to keep it nice and concise.  

Here are just a few of the 2025 releases I really dug last year. Some are full-length albums, some are EPs, one, I guess, is technically a two-song single, and one is even a collection of songs recorded years earlier, but it's all really good stuff.

Of course, I listened to way more local music in 2025, a lot of which is also fantastic, so this is just scratching the surface. Along with songs from each of the releases, you'll hear clips from interviews I did with the artists -- or relevant clips from other interviews -- from 2025 or earlier. 

If you need it in list form, my favourite records (from #1 to however many I did... I think nine?) were:

Propagandhi - At Peace, Rob Crooks - Unhomely, JayWood - Leo Negro, Orelands - Secrets and Select Missions, INGIA - Genesis, Claire Morrison - Where Do You Go At Night?, Scott Nolan - Man on a Wheel, Irvin Miller - Make Room For..., and Uncle Sinner - Everybody Wants to Know How I Die. 

Dig deeper: Propagandhi (episodes #922, 624, 100)/ Greg Soden (988, 620); Rob Crooks (#1013,  968, 916, 853, 773, 657, 527, 346, 285, 189; JayWood (#1007, 824, 708, 589, 308, 255), 
Orelands (#965); INGIA (#957); Claire Morrison (#984); Scott Nolan (#692, 521, 367), Irvin Miller (#978), Uncle Sinner (#1018, 483).

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).

Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

Banjo-slingin’ death-song enthusiast Uncle Sinner is back with his first album in five years, the excellent ‘Everybody Wants to Know How I Die’. 

Listen up for a great chat about the record, taking cover photos the old-fashioned way, Manitoba’s influence on musical bleakness (and rebirth), and much more!
Need more Uncle Sinner in your life? Check out episode #483 (May 2020) and episode #600 (June 2021), which is about his Star Thistle side project.

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).

Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

Folk artist Ben Stopfel spent the majority of his musical career here in Winnipeg, before decamping to Nashville a couple of years ago and plying his trade as a songwriter in Music City. 

He’s back home for a show at Public Domain on Dec. 28 (which means this one is time-sensitive and jumped the queue).

Here's our conversation about the two cities, coming back to Winnipeg, the differences between being a songwriter and a performer, and much more.

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in 2025 (and beyond)!

Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

Just over a year ago, folk singer Fernanda appeared on the podcast for the first time. 

We caught up to talk about her newly-released concept album, ‘Deer Trails’, the name change from her previous Julie Fern identity, working with field recordings, experimenting with new genres, and much more!

Need more Fernanda? Check out episode #953 (November 2024).

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening.  

Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

It's another 'Manitoba-adjacent' episode! Shoegaze-inspired singer-songwriter Kevin MKAI may be based in Toronto these days, but he cut his teeth in Winnipeg’s music scene of the early ‘90s. 

Here's our conversation about his new music, his early experiences here in his hometown, poetry open-mics, having to change the spelling of his own name due to a DJ issuing a cease and desist, and much more!

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening.  

Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!