On Tuesday August 21, 2012, at 3:30 pm ET, I spoke with Josh Tillman, who’d left a popular band called Fleet Foxes to venture out on his own. He called himself Father John Misty and earlier that spring, Sub Pop had released his acclaimed debut album, Fear Fun . Josh and I had a talk about its meta- and philosophical themes, why he name dropped people like Neil Young and Jean-Paul Sartre, the novel he’d written, why he left Fleet Foxes, his interest in comedy, what his favourite Bob Dylan song wa...
Apr 06, 2025•13 min
Marlaena Moore discusses Because You Love Everything , leaving Edmonton for Montreal, being tall among the smaller, playing bass in a garage rock band, why imposter syndrome can be a form of narcissism, working with “Monty” Munro and Chris Dadge, Chad VanGaalen’s way of life, loving Sarah McLachlan and Annie Lennox, being at peace with death, the Cherish This Tour with Land of Talk, working on new songs, other future plans, and much more! EVERY OTHER COMPLETE KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACC...
Apr 03, 2025•1 hr 21 min
Daryl Hall is here discuss to his latest album D , historic home preservation and restoration, working with the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, classic rock radio and how legacy artists stay vital, why he started the inventive, award-winning web series Live from Daryl’s House and its current status, working with Robert Fripp on 1980’s Sacred Songs and his interest in outsider music, what he makes of contemporary pop singing, working with younger artists, whether he misses working with John Oates, tour...
Apr 01, 2025•20 min
On April 12, 2007, I had two phone calls with Patti Smith for a print piece about both her then-new album, Twelve , which features her interpretations of songs by other artists, and her life and work. We were originally only meant to speak once but, after a publicist cut us off after 25 minutes, Patti told me she found my questions thoughtful, asked for my phone number, and promised to call me later that night to talk further, after she was done the press junket she was on. Roughly four hours la...
Mar 30, 2025•16 min
Dan Bejar discusses the new Destroyer album Dan’s Boogie , why he feels better about this album than his last one, expressing opinions to collaborator John Collins without saying a word, whether or not he thinks Jim Morrison is still alive and well in Syracuse, New York, collaborating with Fiver’s Simone Schmidt and why they’re one of the best singers working today, his interest in Italian crooners and jazz musicians, improvising lyrics about the Houston Rockets and orgies, quoting Bob Dylan and...
Mar 27, 2025•1 hr 27 min
Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock discuss their new book Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story Of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival , living among bears, whether Guitar World journalists are required to shred, why their book Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion and Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991 , led them to Lollapalooza’s rise and fall, activism, credibility and selling out, why man...
Mar 25, 2025•22 min
Back in September, 2010, I had the tremendous opportunity to interview Van Dyke Parks on two occasions. The second time was live before an audience at Pop Montreal. The first time was over the phone for the Mich Vish Interracial Morning Show! , which I co-hosted with my wife Michelle. Here for you now, as it aired on September 29, 2010, is my radio interview with Van Dyke Parks. To hear this entire conversation, subscribe to Kreative Kontrol on Patreon at the $6 tier or higher (a reminder that a...
Mar 22, 2025•13 min
Eliza Niemi is back to discuss her wonderful new solo album Progress Bakery , her creative life post-Mauno, why she’s been focusing more on cello and the creative and collaborative opportunities it’s providing her, working closely with Dorothea Paas and Louie Short, dealing with a frightening illness alone while completing a residency in New Mexico, Dogman, fireflies, and other creatures and themes on her new album, playing shows, writing new songs, other future plans, and much more. EVERY OTHER...
Mar 20, 2025•1 hr 23 min
EVERY OTHER COMPLETE KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. Enjoy this excerpt and please subscribe now via this link to hear this full episode. Thanks! Kim Thayil from Soundgarden , 3rd Secret , and Nudedragons is here to discuss how the roots of Sub Pop and Seattle’s sound are in Illinois, growing up as Indian guys in a rather white underground rock world, his foreword for the new Lollapalooza book and the festival’s positive and negative impacts on i...
Mar 18, 2025•29 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. This one is fine, but please subscribe now on Patreon so you never miss full episodes. Thanks! Ben Disaster is here to discuss Real Sickies and their new album Under a Plastic Bag , his weekly CJSR radio show, This is Pop , festive DIY kitchen parties on the east coast of Canada and the uniquely different Alberta vibe, the girl in grade three who gave him a mixtape that changed his life when he was in k...
Mar 13, 2025•1 hr 22 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. Enjoy this excerpt and please subscribe now via this link to hear this full episode. Thanks! Nels Cline returns to discuss his new album and band, Nels Cline: Consentrik Quartet , empathetic collaboration and op art, composition and improvisation in music and also in films like 1953’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes , a James Brandon Lewis observation about what experienced players bring to in-the-moment music...
Mar 11, 2025•23 min
I’ve had the good fortune of interviewing Bob Mould a couple of times in my life. In honour of his new album, Here We Go Crazy , here’s a previously unreleased conversation we had at 1:30 PM ET on Wednesday, June 25, 2014, about his album Beauty & Ruin . To hear this entire conversation , subscribe to Kreative Kontrol on Patreon at the $6 tier or higher (a reminder that an annual subscription includes a discount compared to a monthly one). Related episodes/links: Ep. #928: Verböten Ep. #644:...
Mar 08, 2025•14 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. This one is fine, but please subscribe now on Patreon so you never miss full episodes. Thanks! Ariel Sharratt and Mathias Kom from the Burning Hell are back to discuss their new album, Ghost Palace , DIY home renovations and instructional videos on YouTube, writing songs about death and the apocalypse but in a super fun way, how we strangely can find time for leisure during horrible events and post thro...
Mar 06, 2025•1 hr 14 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. Enjoy this excerpt and please subscribe now via this link to hear this full episode. Thanks! Owen Williams from the Tubs discusses their excellent album, Cotton Crown , DADGAD guitar tuning and affinities for artists like Big Star, Richard Thompson, and SZA, how the humour in his music can be overlooked for its sentimentality, his unique musical upbringing and penchant for misbehaviour as a young teen, ...
Mar 04, 2025•24 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. This one is fine, but please subscribe now on Patreon so you never miss full episodes. Thanks! Emmalia Bortolon-Vettor and Sarafina Bortolon-Vettor from Bonnie Trash are back to discuss their new album Mourning You , the narrative aspects of Emma’s instrumental pieces, Sara’s personal lyrics, and track list typography on Mourning You , how to get revenge on death, Diamanda Galás, comedy in horror, and k...
Feb 27, 2025•1 hr 13 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. Enjoy this excerpt and please subscribe now via this link to hear this full episode. Thanks! Peter Ames Carlin is here to discuss his new book, The Name of This Band is R.E.M. , his background as a fledgling musician and culture writer, developing lovely rapports with Brian Wilson and Bruce Springsteen but not so much with Paul Simon, why he wanted to write a definitive book about the rather private R.E...
Feb 25, 2025•27 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. This one is fine, but please subscribe now on Patreon so you never miss full episodes. Thanks! Steve Moriarty from the Gits is here to discuss his book, Mia Zapata & The Gits: A Story of Art, Rock, and Revolution , his literary influences, his issues with the true crime industry and why he wanted to tell the Gits’ story from his own perspective, the band’s unique rhythm section and why the Gits stil...
Feb 22, 2025•58 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. This one is fine, but please subscribe now on Patreon so you never miss full episodes. Thanks! Andy Cohen and Tim Midyett from Silkworm discuss the new Developer reissue, our shared experience at a memorial for Steve Albini this past summer where Joel RL Phelps joined them for their first Silkworm set together in 30 years, monumental news about upcoming Silkworm shows , revisiting Developer ’s lyrical t...
Feb 20, 2025•1 hr 35 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. Enjoy this excerpt and please subscribe now via this link to hear this full episode. Thanks! Mark Ibold and Scott Kannberg from Pavement, director Jed I. Rosenberg, and producers Jeffrey Lewis Clark and Brian Thalken discuss Louder Than You Think: A Lo-Fi History of Gary Young and Pavement , our states of being near the strange top of 2025, their respective experiences knowing Gary and playing in the Fa...
Feb 18, 2025•27 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. Enjoy this excerpt and please subscribe now via this link to hear this full episode. Thanks! Gianmarco Soresi is here ahead of his Biltmore Cabaret Just for Laughs Vancouver shows on February 17 and 18, and discusses recurring crowd work characters, moving to L.A. just before the recent wildfires, what air travel bits really tell us about capitalism and bureaucracy, America wanting to overtake Canada, p...
Feb 13, 2025•24 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. This one is fine, but please subscribe now on Patreon so you never miss full episodes. Thanks! Richard Davies is here to discuss Composition Book , the new album by the Moles , life in New England and a fascination with the sharks there and in Australia, how his lifelong hearing impairment has impacted his work as a lawyer and musician, telling relatable stories before an audience and a jury, his questi...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 28 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. Enjoy this excerpt and please subscribe now via this link to hear this full episode. Thanks! Margaret Cho is here to discuss her album Lucky Gift , her February 16 Live and LIVID! tour date at Just For Laughs Vancouver , her experience with the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires and our increasingly hot planet, the socio-political state of the USA, its impact on her stand-up tour, and whether or not tot...
Feb 11, 2025•22 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. This one is fine, but please subscribe now on Patreon so you never miss full episodes. Thanks! Brian Case discusses the new FACS album Wish Defense , when we met in Edmonton, St. Louis musical mentors, seeing Fred Armisen’s band Trenchmouth, loving underground Chicago rock music and key British post-punk bands, a shared adoration for Hoover, exploring duality via Naomi Klein, why FACS recorded Wish Defe...
Feb 06, 2025•1 hr 17 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. Enjoy this excerpt and please subscribe now via this link to hear this full episode. Thanks! James Brandon Lewis returns to discuss the new James Brandon Lewis Trio album, Apple Cores , playing with Josh Werner and Chad Taylor, Werner’s Wu-Tang Clan connections, Buffalo-based inspirations like Rick James and Soulive, significant works by A Tribe Called Quest and Black Star, how Don Cherry and Amiri Bara...
Feb 04, 2025•23 min
In my most recent Kreative Kontrol newsletter , I mentioned that I’d done a long-form interview with Will Oldham about his 2019 album, I Made a Place , but it was only used for a print piece, not for this podcast because, at the time, he was feeling ambivalent about being on pods. Sometime in the last couple of years, I asked Will if I could share this phoner, and he said yes, so here it is finally, virtually unedited. The conversation lasted about an hour and took place on Monday, September 29,...
Feb 02, 2025•15 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. This one is fine, but please subscribe now on Patreon so you never miss full episodes. Thanks! Matt Dresdner and Andy Kessler from the Gits are here to discuss the 2025 Sub Pop reissue of their excellent 1992 debut album, Frenching the Bully , moving to Seattle in 1989 before Nirvana broke, youthful record store hangouts, rock god encounters, CBGBs shows, and seeing Descendents, why Andy initially despi...
Jan 30, 2025•1 hr 25 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. Enjoy this excerpt and please subscribe now via this link to hear this full episode. Thanks! Will Oldham is back to discuss the excellent new Bonnie “Prince” Billy album, The Purple Bird , stoves and broilers, Lori Damiano’s album art, first encountering producer David “Ferg” Ferguson, our lengthy 2006 hangout, singing one of his own songs as a duet with Johnny Cash in a vocal booth, marvelling at great...
Jan 28, 2025•24 min
The first time I interviewed Will Oldham , it was in-person at a Toronto café on August 19, 2006. He’d played an in-store at Rotate This (Queen & Bathurst location) earlier in the day, and I was told I had 25 minutes to ask him about his then new album, The Letting Go . It was a magazine assignment, but I also planned to use it for my young campus/community radio show, and so we pretended we were live on the air, early on a Wednesday morning (it aired on September 13, 2006). I abided by the ...
Jan 25, 2025•5 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. This one is fine, but please subscribe now on Patreon so you never miss full episodes. Thanks! André Ethier is back to discuss his new album, Cold Spaghetti.. , personal fitness routines and preferences, musical theatre and cultural adaptation in songwriting, art galleries, museums, and colonialism, compensation, labour, and attribution, caterpillars as a muse, Sandro Perri as a muse, revisiting indie-r...
Jan 23, 2025•1 hr 18 min
EVERY OTHER KREATIVE KONTROL EPISODE IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE TO MONTHLY $6 USD PATREON SUPPORTERS. Enjoy this excerpt and please subscribe now via this link to hear this full episode. Thanks! Nigel Chapman and Josh Salter from Nap Eyes stop by for a talk about their new album, The Neon Gate , working remotely and living in a house together, producer Rene Wilson and the synthesized, electronic drum sounds on this record, people swapping instruments and a tremendous guitar part that recalls Nels Cline,...
Jan 21, 2025•22 min
