Bonus Episode: Lipps Service Live! Pt. 2 With Hamilton Leithauser, Jackson Hamm of Telescreens, and Thesaurus Rex

On this very special bonus episode of Lipps Service, Scott sits down with three of the six acts who performed on June 4 at the historic New York City venue The Bitter End for our first-ever live event – LIPPS SERVICE LIVE!

The live concert was a reflection of Lipps Service podcast, as the night will brought together past and present NYC-bred music, including three legendary acts – Ed Kowalczyk of LIVE, Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen, and Eugene Hütz of Gogol Bordello and Casa Gogol, featuring Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth – and three of the best up-and-coming bands of the city’s contemporary music scene – Jackson Hamm of Telescreens, Thesaurus Rex, and Torture and The Desert Spiders.

To reflect on the amazing night and live show, Scott sat down with Hamilton Leithauser, frontman Jackson Hamm of Telescreens, and frontman Calvin Rezen and guitarist Varun Jhunjhunwalla of Thesaurus Rex in this episode. (Go back and check out part one with Ed, Eugene, and Torture!)

Starting with Hamilton, he talks about his newest album, This Side of the Island, his take on the ‘Meet Me in the Bathroom’ era, the early days of The Walkmen, and he shares his favorite song on the new album. Next up, Jackson gets into the band’s early days playing at The Bitter End, his favorite local bands, what it was like opening for Franz Ferdinand on tour, and his take on the new Turnstile album. To close, Calvin and Varun discuss how the band formed, their musical influences, how they write thought-provoking lyrics, and they list their top 5 NYC bands. 

Tune into this exciting episode of Lipps Service, learn about the artists, hear their thoughts on the live show, and check out footage from LIPPS SERVICE LIVE! on all Lipps Service socials, in case you missed it!

CREDITS (Instagram handles)

Host @scottlipps

Edited by @toastycakes

Music by @robby_hoff

Produced by @whitakermarisa

Recorded at Melrose Podcasts NYC

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Hamilton Leithauser

00:00 - Start

00:30 - Lipps Service Live! at The Bitter End

01:00 - Intimate vs. big venues

02:00 - The Carlyle Hotel

03:32 - The joys of the 2000s 

05:39 - The 2000s 

06:30 - Meet Me in the Bathroom documentary and era

08:00 - The early Walkmen days to the current marketing of records 

09:44 - The economics of being in a band 

10:45 - Being next in line to The Strokes

13:00 - The Walkmen reunion 

14:00 - Going solo and This Side of the Island

14:45 - Playing music for his wife 

17:20 - Redoing his record 

17:40 - Honesty in lyricism on new album

18:00 - Funny tour story

20:15 - Favorite song on new album 

20:45 - One song that embodies NYC

23:26 - New music

Jackson Hamm of Telescreens

00:33 - Paying homage to Telescreens 

01:15 - The Bitter End 

04:00 - Contemporary NYC scene 

05:50 - Favorite NYC band right now 

07:50 - New Turnstile album 

10:33 - Rock being shocking 

11:37 - AI   

13:02 - Pressure to hold the rock ‘n’ roll flag in NYC

14:00 - Franz Ferdinand 

15:42 - Early road stories 

18:12 - Top 5 films 

Calvin Rezen and Varun Jhunjhunwalla of Thesaurus Rex 

00:45 - How the band formed 

01:55 - Influences 

04:15 - AI

05:59 - Lyrics 

09:23 - Thought-provoking lyrics

11:09 - Finances of an indie artist 

16:15 - Top 5 NYC bands