Having played bass for James Brown and Parliament Funkadelic, the funk legend Bootsy Collins needs no introduction. We spoke with him about his new charity single for musicians facing tough times during the coronavirus crisis, his new album dropping this fall and what life lessons he learned from the Godfather of Soul.
We caught up with Mikey Young, alternative music’s ultimate multitasker. After making waves with garage rock heroes Eddy Current Suppression Ring and synth-punk outfit Total Control, the Australian has forged a second career as the mixing and mastering guru for a slew of cutting-edge bands. In the podcast, he discusses and how he managed the transition from stage to studio, his novel approach to recording, and how he overcame his addiction to vintage gear.
Mary Spender is an English singer-songwriter with a bluesy guitar style and a massive online following. We spoke with her about how she built her hugely successful YouTube channel, how musicians can get the most out of social media these days and why she recently did a 24-hour live streaming event.
Noah Pred is a Canadian producer, DJ and music educator. We caught up with him just before he was to discuss keeping a creative flow in the studio at Ableton’s now postponed Loop festival. However, his topic seems more relevant than ever to these times of lockdown and quarantine. In the podcast, he talks about his early transition to electronic music, explains how he ended up teaching and offers his tips on how to keep those creative juices flowing.
Josephine Lee is the president and creative director of the Chicago Children’s Choir. Before the COVID-19 crisis hit, she brought some of the kids to Shure's For Those Who Tour house for a special microphone workshop. Mark Brunner asked Lee about her classical music training, how she eventually joined CCC and the choir's important role in the city's cultural landscape.
Singer-songwriter Hannah Trigwell is a self-taught guitarist who started out busking the streets of her northern English hometown Leeds. A music pioneer on YouTube, she has found legions of fans all over the world online. We spoke with her about being an independent artist in the age of social media, how that affects her creativity and what it’s like interacting with her fans via the internet.
Leo Moracchioli is the Norwegian multi-instrumentalist and producer behind the popular Frog Leap Studios channel on YouTube. With over three million subscribers, he’s racked up more than 700 million views by doing his own brand of metal covers. In the podcast, he talks about the pressures of making a fully produced track and video every single week, what his studio setup is like and how taking his show on the road is changing his music.
England's Ash Soan is one of the world's leading sessions drummers. He's worked with everyone from Squeeze to Adele and even performed during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. We spoke with him at Metropolis Studios while he was leading a workshop for the winner of Shure's Drum Mastery contest.
Rachel K. Collier is an electronic music producer from Wales who likes to give her fans a behind-the-scenes look at her creative process. Mary Spender caught up with her at the Montreux Jazz Festival to ask her why she likes to breakdown her songwriting on her YouTube channel and how she's taking her music from the studio to the stage.
After dabbling in several projects spanning multiple genres, the Minneapolis-based singer and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Nutzman seems to have finally found his groove as Velvet Negroni. His the future-forward R&B has attracted the attention of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Tame Impala and Kanye West. In the podcast, he talks about how his access to pop music was restricted growing up, what it's like to be nominated by Santigold for the new platform Shure24 and how he describes his sound to Ub...
The Dutch guitarist Paul Davids operates a YouTube channel with more than one million followers. In the podcast, he talks about how he started playing music, why he has conflicted feeling about being considered a YouTuber and his approach to his instructional videos.
Victor Van Vugt is an Australian producer known for his work with Nick Cave, PJ Harvey and Beth Orton. In the podcast, he tells how he blagged his professional mixing gig, how a magical phone call led to a tour with The Fall and why Berlin can be a creative black hole for some artists.
Blossoms are an indie pop band hailing from the greater Manchester area. Tom Ogden and Josh Dewhurst discuss their creative path since their debut album was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize and Brits Awards in 2017.
Paula Salvatore is the manager of the illustrious Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California. Over the years, she's seen just about every big name in the business come through the doors. Let her take you on a behind-the-scenes tour of this legendary recording studio.
The English singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier might still be young, but he's already had a prolific musical career. Known for both his ingenuity and eclecticism, he spoke with us about his ambitious four-album project Djesse, working with living-legend Quincy Jones and what winning a Grammy award means to him.
The photographer, filmmaker and podcaster Paul Ripke is a busy man. He's known for the innovative content he creates for rock stars, soccer clubs and the Mercedes Formula One team. We got him to take a short break at this year’s Montreux Jazz Festival to discuss his roots in the German hip hop scene, his philosophy on music photography and what he considers makes a good podcast.
Nearly abandoning his musical career following the breakup of his band the Czars, the US singer-songwriter John Grant went on to find solo success by distilling personal adversity into songs that can be unsparing, poignant and witty – quite often all at the same time. We caught up with him in London fresh off a UK tour for his latest album Love Is Magic. In the podcast, John discusses why he nearly crashed out of music, how he found his creative bearings again and how learning several foreign la...
Steve Albini is a Chicago-based engineer known for his rigorous approach to recording music and his work with Nirvana, the Pixies and many more. For this episode, Thomas Banks heads down to Albini's studio Electrical Audio to wax nostalgic about a special gig from 1986 and to discuss the joys of creating one's own creative community.
Kelela is an American singer/songwriter. After six years in the making, her debut album was released on Warp Records in 2017. In this episode, she talks about her early musical inspiration, the advantages of getting a late start as a professional singer and how she blends traditional R&B with more experimental electronic elements. This episode was recorded at LOOP in LA, in late 2018.
Tim Kinsella is a musician, author, and film director from Chicago. He has been a member of many influential bands, including Cap’n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Make Believe & Owls. In this episode, he talks about his creative life, process and commitment.
dodie is an English singer-songwriter, author, and YouTube personality. She has toured the world extensively, and has amassed over 1.7 million subscribers to her channel. In this episode dodie talks about everything from diary entries, to embarrassing moments on stage, while offering some advice to musicians on YouTube.
Tarik Barri is a Dutch artist, composer and programmer creating immersive audiovisual installations and performances. We spoke to him about his collaboration with Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke for the Hexadome – a 360-degree structure that completely surrounds an audience with sights and sounds.
Sylvia Massy is an American producer and engineer known for her work with Johnny Cash, Prince, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tool, as well as her unorthodox recording techniques. We invited her to The Famous Gold Watch studio in Berlin to talk about her unique experiences, which include recording in an abandoned nuclear cooling tower and using vegetables or cheese to filter audio signals.
Paul Cheese is an artist, sound recordist and cyclist. In today’s episode, Paul talks about his epic cycle rides (his last album was recorded during a 6000km cycle ride), turning the sound of a moped into a violin, creating a track with 700 samples, and making a drum beat from throwing a deck chair down a flight of stairs. This episode was recorded using two MOTIV MV51 microphones.
Steve Hogarth is the lead singer of British rock band Marillion. Despite selling over 15 million albums since forming way back in the early 80’s, they will likely be best remembered for one decision the band made in 1997. Short of money and wanting to embark on a North American Tour, the band turned to their loyal fans to fund their trip, raising the £39,000 required, and unintentionally becoming the pioneers of what we know today as crowdfunding.
Andrew Huang is a Canadian musician, video producer, and YouTube personality. The incredibly entertaining videos he’s created, taking viewers behind the scenes of his original music, coupled with his prolific output (over 2000 tracks to date), has led to well over 1.3 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. In this episode Andrew Huang talks about everything from his early music education and how he made viral videos before YouTube existed, to overcoming perfectionism.
Omar Al Marzooqi is an Emirati singer and songwriter. In 2015, after several years of performing, he quit his job (without telling any of his family), spent a year recording his debut album, and in turn signed a professional recording contract. In this interview, Omar speaks with Lucas Dirty & Myers about everything from khaleeji music & career milestones, to why he refuses to be pigeon-holed.
Steph Marziano is a record producer, mixer, writer & engineer. Since graduating from LIPA (Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts) in 2013 she has worked in various capacities for the likes of The Prodigy, Sam Smith, FKA Twigs & Kasabian. In 2018 she was shortlisted in the ‘Breakthrough Engineer of The Year’ category at The Music Producers Guild Awards. In this interview Steph talks about following her dreams, her definition of various studio roles, turning elephant sounds into a drum ki...
Jerry Bryant, namesake of Chicago music TV institution JBTV, has captured thousands of performances from both emerging and established artists, since founding the show in 1984. In this interview Jerry talks about the early days, and how he has managed to keep it going all these years, while constantly adjusting to changes in technology and format.
US based pioneering rockers talk about the various stages of their 30 year-long career, their DIY ethic, & returning to analogue for the most recent album, recorded with Steve Albini.
