Jacob Slichter was the drummer for the excellent alternative rock band Semisonic, whose 1999 hit "Closing Time" remains a staple to this day. But, we aren't here to talk about that. Jacob covered that story perfectly in his 2004 memoir "So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star", one of the greatest books on life as a mildly successful rock band during the waning days of the traditional music industry ever written. Since his book mirrors the arc we try to cover on the Hustle, I wanted to talk with ...
Oct 04, 2016•1 hr
David Sterry is the man behind one of the most iconic and enduring hits of the 80s synth-pop era, "Send Me An Angel". His band Real Life were major players in the 80s when Angel reached the charts TWICE (in 1983 and again in 1989), and "Catch Me I'm Falling" also made a huge splash in 1983. You'd think writing a song as evergreen as Angel would keep you comfy for the rest of your life, but surprisingly, that was not the case. Luckily, after 20 years, David is now benefitting from his impactful l...
Sep 27, 2016•1 hr 20 min
Choirboys have been an active, vibrant pub rock/hard rock band in their native Australia for over 30 years. They've had several major hits Down Under, including 1987's "Run To Paradise" which, get this, is the 11th best selling Australian single of the 80s! Surprisingly, they've never made much of a dent in America (and never tried too hard). We talk about the differences between Australian and American success, what kind of a lifestyle "Run to Paradise" has afforded them, and them being discove...
Sep 20, 2016•1 hr 26 min
Tito Larriva hasn't stopped working in 40 years. His many musical disguises (The Plugz, The Cruzados, Tito & Tarantula) have paralleled his second career in the movie business, both as an actor and a soundtrack legend. At the core of these many personalities is the heart of a musical genius and shapeshifter who has found much success by being the right guy for the job and always good at what he does. His career has spanned everything from porn to Pee-Wee Herman and Swayze to Tarantino. Get t...
Sep 13, 2016•1 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Fred Pineau was the guitarist for the excellent Boston power pop band The Atlantics. Their story is, unfortunately, a familiar one - big on the local scene, signed to a major label that mis-marketed them (they wanted them to be the "new wave Eagles"), and thus buried their one and only album, 1979's Big City Rock. Even with a national tour opening for Roxy Music, the Atlantics never fully took off and never made it to a second album. However, Fred is a world-class raconteur and has numerous incr...
Sep 06, 2016•1 hr 59 min
The A's were one of Philadelphia's hottest bands in the 70s. Their mix of new wave and power pop created some of the best music of that wonderful period - the barely pre-MTV era (1977-1981). Lead singer Richard Bush was also one of the most charismatic frontman around - rock star through and through. But, unfortunately, after two underperforming albums on a major label, the band called it a day. Today, Richard primarily makes his living working like the rest of us, but for the past few years he'...
Aug 30, 2016•1 hr 10 min
Arthur Alexander grew up in Warsaw Poland with dreams of becoming the next Elvis. His dreams brought him to NYC where he paid his dues on the CBGBs scene of the mid-70s with his first band The Poppees before things started to take off with his next band, the killer garage rock/power pop greats Sorrows. Unfortunately, after two under-performing albums the band was no more. Arthur is very candid and opinionated about his own career, what went wrong, and even his feelings about his fellow CBGB coho...
Aug 23, 2016•1 hr 31 min
In the mid-70s, Blanche Napoleon impulsively moved to NYC and befriended the excellent singer-songwriter Dan Hartman. She also managed to stumble into a music career when Dan made her a background singer on some of his biggest disco hits ("Instant Replay", "Relight My Fire", "Love Sensation"). Their deep friendship carried on until his death from AIDS in 1993. In this conversation, not only do we honor Dan and his life and art, but we talk about Blanche's brief. but impactful career in the music...
Aug 16, 2016•1 hr 18 min
Robert Tepper is a legend. His immortal classic, "No Easy Way Out" from 1985's Rocky IV, while not a huge hit on the pop charts, remains one of the most beloved soundtrack songs in movie history. Who will ever forget that killer track fueling what is, arguably, the greatest movie montage of all time. In this candid conversation, we go deep on how that song came to be and who played on it, but we also get to know the man behind it all as well as the rest of his career. Let's just say, the 80s wer...
Aug 09, 2016•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Jon Fiore was the lead singer of another great, but forgotten, early 80s rock band called Preview. Like many other bands we've showcased, they came in with a lot of promise, released an excellent debut album in 1983, and completely disappeared. From there, Jon began a highly successful career singing many legendary jingles, continuing to perform whenever possible, including releasing two excellent melodic hard rock albums in the 90s. But, to me he will always be beloved as the voice behind the t...
Aug 02, 2016•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Who can ever forget the sight of the greased-up beefcake saxophone player performing "I Still Believe" on the boardwalk among the barrels of fire in the 1987 classic movie, The Lost Boys. It's an image that has impacted a generation. This week's guest is the man himself, Tim Cappello. This surprisingly kind and funny guy tells us why he never had a solo career (it's hilarious), what it was like working for legends such as Peter Gabriel and Tina Turner, his days starting out as Billy Crystal's mu...
Jul 26, 2016•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 1
As big as "hair metal" was in the late-80s, there were very few women singers that were as big as the boys and could hold their own next to them. That is, except for Fiona, who released a string of hard rock albums from the mid-80s to the early 90s scoring a couple moderate hits in the process. She is probably best known for her electric duet with fellow genetic lottery winner Kip Winger, "Everything You Do (Your Sexing Me)" which barely missed the top 40 in 1989. However, what makes Fiona Flana...
Jul 19, 2016•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 1
This is an encore presentation of one of our biggest (and many think best) episodes. Because only the last 50 episodes show up in iTunes, I wanted to post this again so it could be accessed more easily. And because I'm super proud of it.
Jul 15, 2016•1 hr 25 min
Jai was the stage name of Jason Rowe, who in the 90s recorded one of the great lost albums with Heaven. Referring to his style as "a mod for the hip-hop generation", Heaven produced one of the best singles of the decade with "I Believe" which was a modest hit on alternative radio in 1997. Unfortunately, that was it for Jai, or so I thought. Come to find out, he released one more album under his given name in 2006 called Lovelife which, unfortunately, remains fairly obscure. Despite it all, Jason...
Jul 12, 2016•1 hr 23 min
This week is the one and only Taco ( yes, that is his real name - Taco Ockerse )! He hit it big in 1983 with his hypnotic take on the classic 'Puttin On The Ritz', which reached #4 that year, and was a bit of a cultural touchstone. Unfortunately, that was all she wrote for Taco in the States and we talk about the difficult decision he made to abandon the US market and go all-in in Europe where he's remained very active ever since. Taco continues to release music there, most of which is in keepin...
Jul 05, 2016•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Peter McCann is the man behind the immortal classic, "Do You Wanna Make Love" which was a #5 smash in 1977. He's an admitted one-hit-wonder, but his career is much broader than the one hit. He started out in a folk group called The Repairs who were managed by Andrew Loog Oldham (also of the Rolling Stones) and signed to Motown of all places! Berry Gordy didn't know what to do with them, so they were dropped after two albums. Peter went solo, but learned early on that he much preferred writing so...
Jun 28, 2016•1 hr 12 min
George Winston is an icon of New Age music (or "rural folk piano" as he calls it) and an American treasure. His beautiful piano songs have become a part of the country's fabric and some of his albums, especially 1982's December, are essential recordings no matter the genre. To me, George has been a mysterious figure, ever present, but never in the limelight. I wanted to get to know the man behind the music. Turns out he's a talkative, gregarious, student of music who has created his own world an...
Jun 21, 2016•1 hr 12 min
Neil Taylor has been a hugely successful session guitarist for over 30 years, ever since some of his buddies called him up one day asking if he could rush over to the studio and lay down a guitar solo on a song they were working on. That song was "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and, of course, the band was Tears For Fears. This began a long and fulfilling career that's seen him work with luminaries such as Morrissey, Peter Gabriel, and Robbie Williams, whom he performed alongside for 10 year...
Jun 14, 2016•1 hr 34 min
Our intrepid producer, Jan "The Man" is a huge AC/DC fan, and has been trying to finagle a way to see them for literally years. With a lineup change, and Brian Johnson leaving the band recently to be replaced by Axl Rose, there has been a huge amount of talk over the last couple of months, many people asking for refunds on their tickets. We thought it would be fun to talk to our Producer about his experience of Axl fronting the band, and get his take, since he finally managed to score a ticket t...
Jun 10, 2016•47 min
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the release of Ferris Bueller's Day Off this month, our guest this week is Ben Watkins, former lead singer of The Flowerpot Men who had that excellent track "Beat City" that was featured heavily in the film. What's really interesting about Ben is that he went on to be a key figure in the electronic and techno scene of the early 90s when he started the hugely successful Juno Reactor, a band that has been going strong around the world ever since. Ben has also co...
Jun 07, 2016•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 28
The Woodentops were an excellent British alternative pop band of the mid-to-late 80s. However, within just 2 years, they released 3 wildly different albums and then called it quits. The debut, Giant, sounds like what bands such as Prefab Sprout and Let's Active were doing at the time. The second was a live album that was super punky and revved up, and then the proper second album, Wooden Foot Cops on the Highway, was heavily influenced by the Madchester and Baggie scenes of the late 80s. Lead si...
May 31, 2016•57 min
Anthony Kaczynski was the lead singer of the great Detroit synth band Figures on a Beach throughout the 80s. They started out as a more avant-garde focused outfit along the lines of early Simple Minds, OMD, and Can, but they eventually put out two major label albums in the late-80s that had a much slicker, synth-pop sound. Unfortunately, success wasn't in the cards (although they did record one of the great alternative singles of the late-80s with "Accidentally 4th Street (Gloria)"). Anthony did...
May 24, 2016•1 hr 35 min
The 90s were the golden era of killer indie rock bands fronted by chicks and one of the best of the bunch was Washington D.C.'s Velocity Girl lead by Sarah Shannon. The band put out three albums in the mid-90s before calling it quits. Sarah got married, moved to Seattle, and embarked a mildly successful solo career before turning her attention away from the music industry. Just then, an opportunity to start a children's rock band called The Not-Its became a reality. Think the power poppy guitar ...
May 17, 2016•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Amanda Blue was the lead singer of one of those great rock and roll with a touch of new wave bands of the late 70s/early 80s called Spider. They cracked the top 40 once in 1980 when "New Romance" reached #39, but after two albums, they changed their name to Shanghai and released one more album before calling it quits and Amanda embarked on a solo career. What might be most interesting about Spider are the many recognizable names that circled their orbit. The band was discovered by Kiss and manag...
May 10, 2016•1 hr 22 min
To celebrate The Hustle's 1st Birthday, we created a full circle moment. This week's guest is Mark Brzezicki, drummer of the iconic Scottish band Big Country! You may remember in the intro to The Hustle that I recorded a year ago, I mentioned that the suicide of Big Country's lead singer Stuart Adamson was an inspiration for me creating a place where I could let my favorite unsung artists know how much I love them. Here we are 52 conversations later and still going strong! Mark and I discuss wha...
May 03, 2016•1 hr 26 min
In this special Prince-themed bonus episode of The Hustle, we're joined by popular blogger and host of the beloved Stuck In The 80s podcast, Steve Spears, another die-hard Prince fan. We discuss what he meant to us, his legacy, our faves, and the rumors surrounding how he died. Huge thank you to Steve for being our special guest! http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/80s/
Apr 29, 2016•45 min
American Noise were one of the great "should-have-been" bands. They were one of the hottest tickets in the thriving Cleveland rock scene of the 70s when they were signed by legend Richard Perry and sent to LA to work on their debut album. Released in 1980, their self-titled masterpiece is a power-pop lovers dream. However, the label didn't get behind them and American Noise dissolved into obscurity. Over the years, however, that album has grown a deserved reputation as "the great lost guitar rec...
Apr 26, 2016•1 hr 26 min
Todd Pipes was the lead singer of Deep Blue Something, who hit it big in 1995 with the seminal "Breakfast at Tiffany's" which reached #5 on the US charts. Sadly, it was their one and only hit and after a couple more albums that received less attention, the band slowed way down. Todd is now an English teacher in Dallas and makes music when he wants to, including an excellent ep from last year called Locust House. We talk about music in the 90s, the aftermath of having such a big, divisive hit, an...
Apr 19, 2016•1 hr 18 min
Ranking Roger is a music and style icon that needs no introduction. He was a founding member of one of the most important and beloved alternative/ska bands of all-time with the English Beat. Then, he and fellow front man Dave Wakeling broke off and formed General Public to even greater chart success ("Tenderness" #27 in 1984). Today the former partners function as two separate groups - Dave carries on as The English Beat in the states while Roger is The Beat throughout the rest of the world. We ...
Apr 12, 2016•1 hr 18 min
Phil and I discuss several of his collaborations including... Talk Talk Seal Terence Trent D'Arby Jai When In Rome Dubstar OMD Flesh for Lulu Heaven 17 Suggs http://www.philspalding.com/ http://www.liver4life.org.uk/
Apr 07, 2016•33 min
