Categories
News Podcast

Ep. #324: Daniel Romano

Daniel Romano is a multi-talented musician, producer, songwriter, and label co-owner, who currently calls Fenwick, Ontario home. Over the past 15 years, he’s made a name for himself in bands like Attack in Black and Daniel, Fred, and Julie, and also as a solo artist exploring the far reaches of folk, country, rock, and punk music. His sixth solo album is called Modern Pressure, which was just long-listed for the 2017 Polaris Music Prize in Canada and is otherwise being lauded as Romano’s finest and most mystifying album yet. It’s out courtesy of You’ve Changed Records in Canada and New West Records elsewhere and it prompted Dan to return to this show to discuss turning off the refrigerator in his compound apartment, music appreciation and consumption, Jennifer Castle, diss tracks and his new song about the Ramones and U2, the new tape by his band Ancient Shapes, Bob Dylan’s recent speech accepting his Nobel Prize for Literature, the future of his old band Attack in Black, Modern Pressure, and much more. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, and Planet Bean Coffee.

Categories
News Podcast

Ep. #323: Nick Cave and Warren Ellis

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis are two of the world’s most iconic, influential, and inspiring musicians working today. Originally from Australia, Nick Cave has altered the course of rock ‘n’ roll and invented a new kind of leading man in bands like the Birthday Party and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. His countryman Warren Ellis is a gifted and daring multi-instrumentalist, renowned for his work in Dirty Three and he joined Cave, as a member of the Bad Seeds, in the mid-1990s. The pair have become close collaborators in the Bad Seeds, they worked together in a a now defunct band called Grinderman, and together they’ve also composed riveting and acclaimed scores and soundtracks for theatrical productions and films like The Proposition, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Road, Hell or High Water, and most recently, the feature films War Machine and Django. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds dispatched a well-received album called Skeleton Tree in the fall of 2016 and in May of 2017, Mute Records released a comprehensive retrospective called Lovely Creatures: The Best of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (1984-2014), and they’ve been touring behind these efforts lately. Captured in a hotel restaurant on the afternoon of their second sold out show at Massey Hall in Toronto, here Warren and Nick discuss their history as friends and colleagues, how Warren wound up in the Bad Seeds, how they work together and their relationships to melody and noise, Nick’s unique relationship with his audience and why he needs them now, recording Skeleton Tree, upcoming plans, and much more. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, and Planet Bean Coffee.

Categories
News Podcast

Ep. #322: John Mulaney

John Mulaney is a comedian who originally hails from Chicago but currently calls Los Angeles home. One of the most gifted comedic voices of his generation and a brilliant standup, Mulaney wrote for Saturday Night Live between 2008 and 2014, co-creating memorable characters like Bill Hader’s Stefon. Recently he and Nick Kroll conceived of a pair of elder, opinionated New Yorkers in a stage show called Oh, Hello on Broadway, which they took to Broadway and filmed for a new Netflix special, which debuts June 13. His own 2015 standup special for Netflix, The Comeback Kid, is coming to vinyl, CD, and mp3 in June as well, courtesy of Drag City Records, and he’s touring his new show, Kid Gorgeous, across North America, including stops in western Canadian cities and a stand at Just for Laughs in Montreal in July. John and I caught up recently to discuss most of the aforementioned projects and people, as well as Donald Trump, Hasan Minhaj’s remarks at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, Jerry Seinfeld, Donald Trump, the Obamas, comedy’s role in the current political climate, Seth Meyers, meeting Bill Clinton in 1992, another new show he’s making with Nick Kroll, music, and much more. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, and Planet Bean Coffee.