Rock Talk with Sommer: Conversations with Women in the Music Industry

Sommer Sharon•rocktalkwithsommer.libsyn.com

Music journalist/promoter, Sommer Sharon, talks with female musicians and music industry professionals about their relationships, motivations, life-changing decisions, their work and more. Go backstage and into the homes and histories of these talented women in the music industry. We’ll also talk about music news, new music, album opinions and current issues affecting the music industry, including issues around gender equality and women empowerment. No rules, always diverse, we’ll cover the unlimited genres of rock music – from punk rock to alternative to country rock to blues rock to shoegaze to indie to krautrock, and everything in between.

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Episodes

Margo Z. Nahas: Van Halen, Seals and Crofts, Fleetwood Mac, Prince, Tom Petty, Stevie Wonder and working with many others as an in-demand album artist Ep 7

Margo Z. Nahas is the only female she knows of that was doing album artwork when she was creating cover art for bands like Van Halen, Stevie Wonder, Seals and Crofts and others. Together with her husband Jay Vigon, they’ve worked with and helped to create some of the most iconic music artwork including the cover of Van Halen’s 1984 album cover (the smoking baby), the braille-like cover of Stevie Wonder’s Secret Life of Plants and logos for Tom Petty and Prince’s Purple Rain album cover and film....

Aug 11, 2018•49 min

Aliens, Bar Mitzvahs and the Common Misconceptions of Female Drummers with Mindy Abovitz, founder of Tom Tom Magazine Ep 6

Mindy Abovitz is a drummer and the founder, publisher and creator of Tom Tom Magazine, a print magazine based out of New York dedicated to female drummers. Its purpose is to raise the awareness of female drummers all across the world and to inspire females of all ages. It’s distributed across the world, and is the only magazine in the world dedicated to female drummers. A few of the well-known drummers who have appeared in Tom Tom include Kim Thompson (Beyoncé), Sheila E., Janet Weiss and Liv Ma...

Feb 02, 2018•1 hr 3 min

Getting Primal with Tayler and Kayla of The Scars Heal in Time, Plus LOTS of music industry news and happenings Ep 5

What happens when you combine two sisters who’ve been through some tough times with aggressive rock n’ roll? You get empowered, feminine, primal rock! New-ish on the national scene The Scars Heal in Time are a female formed band (Tayler on drums, and her sister Kayla on vocals and guitar). In Your Flame is their newest song — you’ll get a peek listen — and is about being with someone who brings out the worse in you. They are releasing a new EP, produced by Justin Rimer (12 Stones, Saving Abel) a...

Jan 20, 2018•44 min

The Women’s Audio Mission/Angelo Duncan: Helping to empower all underserved people in the music industry Ep 4

Imagine a place where females and other underserved individuals dreaming of a career in the music industry had a place where they could get the training, support and resources to do so. The fact is less than 5% of the people working in the field of music production & recording arts are women. Songwriter, composer, recording engineer, and producer Terri Winston founded the Women’s Audio Mission in 2003. And since they’ve been working to change those numbers. Through WAM 400+ women have been p...

Nov 11, 2017•52 min

Eleanor Tinlin: Alter Bridge, Bring Me the Horizon and Parallax Orchestra Ep 3

Eleanor Tinlin knew the standard orchestra model wasn't for her. Imagine her excitement when she started working with Parallax Orchestra, a new-ish collaborative orchestra that last year worked on a show with Bring Me the Horizon and this year were part of a sold-out Alter Bridge show at the Royal Albert Hall in London. They’ve got more projects in the works! You’ll want to hear about their past work, including their history and how they work collaboratively with other artists. Find out more abo...

Oct 27, 2017•42 min

Susan Rogers: Prince Sound Engineer, Now Berklee College Professor Ep 2

Susan was more than Prince’s engineer, she considered them friends, a friend she gave her life to for several years. “Married” in a sense to Prince with his heavy demands. But that’s not all Prince was to her, this is a man she had a deep respect for. Susan’s path eventually led her to Berklee, where now she’s a professor as well as a researcher. It’s been an interesting, thrilling journey for Susan Rogers. Find out more about Susan Rogers Follow Rock Talk Podcast on Facebook and Instagram Suppo...

Oct 20, 2017•1 hr 9 min

Davina of Davina and the Vagabonds Ep 1

Despite her difficult past involving heroin addiction, Davina is the lead singer, pianist, and all around mastermind behind Davina and the Vagabonds, a jazz blues band with a distinct sound one can’t completely classify. She’s a strong woman. Her path to becoming a full-time working musician will inspire you. She’s toured the country and internationally with the band. We talk about her one Prince connection involving the NY Times, her heroin addiction, the story behind a sad sad song we really d...

Oct 20, 2017•50 min

Ep. 0: Welcome to Rock Talk with Sommer

Welcome to the show! Find out what Rock Talk with Sommer is all about. A new podcast from music journalist/promoter Sommer Sharon. Working in the music industry since 2011, Sommer saw the untapped need to give females an outlet for promotion, as well as a place to discuss issues unique to females in music. Through this podcast, she'll talk to some amazing women in the industry as well as share thoughts on music news, current events, albums + more. Follow Rock Talk Podcast on Facebook and Instagr...

Oct 08, 2017•3 min

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