

Bandsplain
Bandsplain is a show where host Yasi Salek invites experts to explain cult bands and iconic artists—and why people love them.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 24, 2022 • 1h 26min
Mailbag Part Deux
Once again, Yasi and Producer Dylan take a little breather from the 60 page Google Docs and 5 hour episodes to answer your burning questions, including: the making of Bandsplain, what bands we’re listening to now, and why we haven’t done Guided By Voices yet. Special shout out to our Gen Z listeners who called in, you are very cool.
Check out the artists Yasi and Dylan recommended in this episode:
Turnstile
Enumclaw
Big Thief
Soccer Mommy
Snail Mail
SASAMI
Girlpool
Wednesday
OVLOV
Young Guv
Fucked Up
Niis
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Mar 17, 2022 • 3h 49min
Liz Phair with Niko Stratis
A major figure in the cool girl canon, Liz Phair broke through Chicago’s indie rock scene (and its politics) with her seminal 1993 debut, Exile in Guyville, setting her off on a fearlessly confessional path of continual, defiant self-reinvention. Writer Niko Stratis talks with Yasi about Liz Phair’s bold songwriting and boundary-pushing across the worlds of provincial indie rock and chart-topping pop.
Follow Niko Stratis at @nikostratis.
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Mar 10, 2022 • 3h 36min
311 with Marty Sartini Garner
In honor of 3/11 day, we present to you: 311. Purveyors of positivity as well as amber-colored energies, 311’s extensive career gets a thorough and loving look from writer and known Excitable, Marty Sartini Garner.
Follow Marty Sartini Garner at @mrrrty.
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Mar 3, 2022 • 2h 19min
Randy Newman with Molly Lambert
Songwriter laureate of Los Angeles Randy Newman gets explained by the Valley’s own Molly Lambert. Infinitely more prolific, and controversial, than his common image suggests as the “I Love LA” and Toy Story theme song guy, Molly takes Yasi on a tour of his extensive and complex oeuvre as Hollywood songman.
Follow Molly Lambert at @mollylambert.
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Feb 24, 2022 • 2h 3min
Sublime with Jeff Weiss
Sublime, the ultimate legacy band for stoner kids everywhere, get explained by return guest Jeff Weiss. Jeff joins Yasi to make the case on how Sublime’s Long Beach heritage and their of-its-time infusions of ska, punk, rock, and reggae made them a ubiquitous Southern Californian musical export, even after singer Bradley Newell’s passing in 1996.
Follow Jeff Weiss at @passionweiss and check out The LAnd magazine at @theLAndmagazine.
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Feb 17, 2022 • 3h 52min
Pavement with Chris Ryan
The Ringer’s Chris Ryan joins us for a long-awaited Bandsplain on one of Yasi’s all-time favorite bands: Pavement. Steeped in Californian suburban ennui, the casual, scruffy brilliance of Pavement pierced through the indie rock heyday of the post-grunge 90s to make them one of the most enduring rock bands from that moment.
Follow Chris Ryan on Twitter at @ChrisRyan77 and check out his Ringer podcasts The Watch, The Rewatchables, Music Exists, and The Ringer NBA Show.
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Feb 10, 2022 • 2h 48min
Minutemen with Joe Gross
Minutemen from San Pedro, CA were a band of childhood soulmates whose experimental sound, working class roots, and lucid politics made them all-timers in the history of punk. Joe Gross returns to highlight Minutemen’s DIY ethos of “jamming econo,” and the timeless influence they had on the whole of independent music that came after them.
Follow Joe Gross on Twitter at @joegross and pick up his 33 ⅓ book on Fugazi’s In On the Killtaker wherever fine books are sold.
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Feb 3, 2022 • 3h 49min
Nine Inch Nails with Geoff Rickly
Geoff Rickly from Thursday guides us through the extended universe of Trent Reznor, who took the pulse and grit of industrial music into the mainstream with NIИ’s 1989 debut, Pretty Hate Machine, and became one of rock’s darkest and most impactful innovators of the next few decades.
Follow Geoff Rickly on Twitter at @GeoffRickly.
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Jan 27, 2022 • 2h 23min
Fishbone with Joseph Patel
Our Red Hot Chili Peppers Gen X-pert Joseph Patel, producer of Summer of Soul, returns to Bandsplain one of the Pep’s most influential, yet underappreciated, LA scene contemporaries: Fishbone. Their eclectic fusions of punk, funk, ska, metal, and soul earned these childhood friends from South Central a true cult following in the late 80s and early 90s, despite the industry racism and internal dysfunction that fumbled their mainstream potential.
Follow Joseph Patel on Twitter at @jazzbeezy and watch his documentary Summer of Soul.
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Jan 20, 2022 • 3h 59min
Weezer with Barry Johnson
Barry Johnson of Joyce Manor joins Yasi for a thorough investigation into Weezer, the early nineties major label breakouts who have served as a gateway rock band for many a preteen since. Barry and Yasi plumb the depths of one idiosyncratic frontman, Rivers Cuomo, while examining the transmutations of alt-rock from the nineties to the aughts, and Weezer’s robustly maintained fandom community who’ve stayed with them to this day.
Follow Barry Johnson on Twitter at @joycemanor.
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