Stereo Embers: The Podcast

“4th of July Special: What's The Point Of A Strawberry?” Well, not counting the fact that they lower your blood pressure, are high in fiber, rich in antioxidants and guard you from cancer, strawberries are pretty much useless. In this wildly discursive 4th of July chat with singer-songwriter Shannon McArdle, the Brooklyn musician talks to Alex about why she’s not into strawberries (or fruit for that matter), why she got on a subway in the middle of a pandemic and how she lost the tip of her finger. Look, this is our perennial and evergreen 4th of July Shannon Spectacular and this conversation not only covers all the bases, it will make you forget that there’s no (legal) firework celebrations this year. This chat covers the genius of the new Dylan album, the durability of Soda Stream machines and the 20th anniversary reissue of Shannon’s old band The Mendoza Line’s We’re All In This Alone. Oh, and Alex worries Shannon might get scurvy. And Shannon doesn’t seem worried about this at all. An hour and a half of comedy, antics and dogs. Enjoy! Stereo Embers The Podcast Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“An Crann” Damian O’Neill is best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the legendary band The Undertones. One of Northern Ireland’s most successful bands, the Derry outfit got their start in 1974 and featured Damian’s brother John on rhythm guitar. The band pretty much tore things up, releasing nearly 15 singles and four classic albums and which still sound as vital today as they ever have. The Undertones are one of the greatest bands of all time and their exhilarating blend of pop and punk remains as dynamic and rousing as ever. The original lineup called it a day in 1983, though a revamped version of the band would reform years later and put out two excellent albums which are strong additions to the band’s legacy. The O’Neill brothers went on to form That Petrol Emotion, who ruled college radio in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, putting out fifteen singles and six fabulous albums, including Manic Pop Thrill and Babble. O’Neill stays busy, putting out a solo album of experimental electronica, playing in a band called The Everlasting Yeah and keeping the Undertones going on a full-time basis. O’Neill’s new album AN CRAN is a largely instrumental affair that was recorded at his home and features acoustic guitars, mandolin, bass, organ, vibraphone, toy marimba and glockenspiel, melodica, mouth organ, squeezebox, kalimba, bells and various percussion and human voices. Influenced by French, Japanese, American and British music, the album demonstrates that O’Neill is one of the great composers. His compositions are thoughtful arrangements that evince poetry, narrative dexterity and musical finesse. They’re melodic and harmonic soundscapes that evoke verdant vistas, Tokyo nightclubs and Parisian waterways. This is one of the most compelling albums of 2023, put together by one of the true masters. www.damianoniell.bandcamp.com www.bombshellradio.com www.embersarts.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com Stereo Embers: Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“How To Love” The London-born and Scottish based singer/songwriter Dan Willson is truly one of the best we’ve got. Over the course of three albums with his band Withered Hand, Willson has asserted himself as a songwriter of tremendous sensitivity, poetic smarts and lyrical grace. A little history: Willson had played in bands but with art school behind him, when he picked up a guitar at 30 and found that the technicolors of songwriting were as alluring as the visual arts, well, he went on a bit of a tear: 2009’s Good News and 2014’s New Gods rank among two of the most powerful albums of the last twenty years and Willson’s new one—his first in almost a decade—is called How To Love and it completes a rather stunning trilogy of records with clear shots of redemption, recovery and personal resurrection. How To Love almost didn’t happen. And we'll leave that story for Dan to tell, but in the meantime, let's just say this: we're so happy that it did. It’s one of the most joyful, painful, life-affirming and altogether reviving albums in recent memory. www.witheredhand.com www.witheredhand.bandcamp.com www.bombshellradio.com www.embersarts.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com Stereo Embers: Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Never Say Never” Formed by classmates at the Art Institute in San Francisco at the sunset of the 70s, Romeo Void were one of the most dynamic, inventive and singular outfits around. Fronted by singer Debora Iyall, the classic Romeo Void lineup was Iyall on vocals, Peter Woods on guitar, bassist Frank Zincavage, saxophonist Benjamin Bossi and drummer Aaron Smith. They toured nationally, had fans that ranged from Ric Ocasek of the Cars to Ann Wilson of Heart and they signed to a major label. Things were happening. The band put out three perfect and critically acclaimed albums—It’s a Condition, Benefactor and Instincts--before calling it a day in 1984. A captivating singer, Iyall had the street mart snarl of Jim Carroll and the poetic finesse of Patti Smith and she inhabited each number with strength, vulnerably and wisdom. The songs were frank and honest and their post-punk purity and new wave muscle still sounds as vital today as it did back then. And if you want to check to see if I’m right—the band has just put out LIVE FROM MABUHAY GARDENS: NOVEMBER 14, 1980, THE BAND'S FIRST OFFICIAL LIVE ALBUM. This is a searing eleven song set that’s dynamic, urgent and rippling with power. www.romeovoid.bandcamp.com www.bombshellradio.com www.embersarts.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com Stereo Embers: Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Andy Rourke Remembered” Well, he may have been in a band with the greats, but let’s face it, Andy Rourke was one of them as well. The Manchester born Rourke joined his childhood pal Johnny Marr’s band The Smiths in 1982 and he played with them until their demise in 1987. That’s Rourke you hear on every Smiths record, including The Queen Is Dead, Strangeways Here We Come and Louder Than Bombs. After the legendary band broke up, Rourke played with Sinead O’Connor, The Pretenders, Killing Joke, Badly Drawn Boy, Ian Brown of the Stone Roses and Morrissey. Rourke also teamed up with New Order’s Peter Hook and Mani of the Stone Roses and formed the band Freebass. He also played with Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries in the band D.A.R.K. and around the time I chatted with him, he had formed Blitz Vega with Kav Sandhu, a band that also featured Johnny Marr as a special guest. Rourke’s life was busy and exciting and this list doesn’t cover all he did, but it does serve as a reminder of how brilliant he was. A prowling blend of rockabilly, funk and post-punk, Rourke’s baselines were intricate, inventive and artful. Rourke died in Mid-May and the tributes that poured in were testament after testament that this man was loved. Perhaps it was Moz’s, however, that was the most on-point: "He will never die as long as his music is heard. He didn’t ever know his own power, and nothing that he played had been played by someone else. His distinction was so terrific and unconventional and he proved it could be done. He was also very, very funny and very happy, and post-Smiths, he kept a steady identity - never any manufactured moves. I suppose, at the end of it all, we hope to feel that we were valued. Andy need not worry about that.” www.bombshellradio.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.embersarts.com Stereo Embers The Podcast Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast EMAIL: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Introducing Billy Bradley" A veteran of commercials, movies and television while still only in his 30s, Michael Charles Roman is one of those timeless actors. He’s got the punchline prowess of everyone from Michael J. Fox to Jason Bateman, the comedic instincts of Martin Short and the theatrical range that could find him doing period pieces to contemporary dramas. Roman was in films like Keeping The Faith with Ed Norton and Ben Stiller, Little Nicky with Adam Sandler and Rob Burnett’s We Made This Movie. When it comes to TV, you’ve seen him on Bones, The Good Wife,Veronica Mars, Ground Floor, 2 Broke Girls, Evil, Frequency, and most recently, NetFlix’s Grace and Frankie with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.The guy can do it all. And just to test that idea, he decided to do it all on his first short film Introducing Billy Bradley. The film is a semi-autobiographical short written, directed and produced by Roman, who also stars alongside his former Grace and Frankie scene partner Martin Sheen (The West Wing, Apocalypse Now). Introducing Billy Bradley follows a down-on-his-luck actor who finds himself at a critical crossroads: save his life or salvage what’s left of his floundering career. The movie also stars Alexandra Metz (CW’s Frequency), Arjay Smith (ABC’s The Rookie, TNT’s Perception) and Garrett Morris (CBS’s 2 Broke Girls, Saturday Night Live). Billy Bradley does what the best short films do—leave you both satisfied and wanting more. Not an easy balance, but in his directional debut, Roman does just that. It’s a brilliant film that in just 14 minutes, manages to do what some films take hours to attempt to do. Introducing Billy Bradley: https://vimeo.com/762362781 Michael Charles Roman on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0738722/ www.bombshellradio.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.embersarts.com Stereo Embers The Podcast Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast EMAIL: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Sea Swallow Me” In the dark, harrowing, and gripping memoir Sea Swallow Me, which details a drug addiction that almost killed her, the Bay Area author Suki Jones writes with a raw immediacy and refreshing candor about not only being dependent on drugs, but keeping that dependency a secret from her family and friends.Set against the backdrop of the Bay Area in the early '90s, Jones balances motherhood and modeling with deft precision, but behind the scenes she was falling apart and roaming the night with punk rockers, metalheads, and sometimes even strangers, just looking for her next fix. A ferocious memoir about broken family history, sexual abuse, and debilitating addiction, Sea, Swallow Me vividly wanders through the decade with a fiery resolve which ultimately reveals how Jones survived when she shouldn't have. Sea, Swallow Me is a powerful tale of resilience and redemption. Suki Jones on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suki_jones/ Sea, Swallow Me on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Swallow-Me-Suki-Jones/dp/B0BWDZT7CW www.emberarts.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com Stereo Embers Twitter:@emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast EMAIL: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“On Banjo” In sunny a San Diego high school somewhere in the 70s, while kids were listening to Aerosmith and Van Halen and Boston, Alison Brown was listening to bluegrass. She had started on guitar but gravitated to the banjo and by her teens, she was already pretty proficient on the instrument. She won first place at the Canadian National Banjo Championship, played a gig at the Grand Ole Opry and toured one summer with fiddler Stuart Duncan. After high school She headed to Harvard, knocked out an MBA at UCLA and then went to work as an Investment Banker. You know—the typical bluegrass story you hear all the time. Thinking music was a weekend thing, Brown had a nice balance going but then music decided to tip the scales. Alison Krauss flashed the bat signal for a banjo player and Brown answered the call, and gave up her Wall Street environs for a life in music. And what a life it has been. An internationally recognized virtuoso on banjo, Brown has played with Alison Krauss, Michelle Shocked, fronted her own Alison Brown Quartet, toured all over the world, from Japan to South America, along the way playing The Kennedy Center, the Newport Folk Festival, The Cambridge Folk Festival in England and the Galway Arts Festival in Ireland. With a Grammy in her trophy case along with multiple Grammy nominations, features on CBS Sunday Morning, NPRs All Things Considered and close to 15 critically lauded albums under her belt, including her fabulous new one No Banjo, Alison Brown is an artistic force. And what of On Banjo? Well, putting it simply, it’s a stunner. A deftly played album filled with technical prowess, musical finesse and compositional dexterity, On Banjo is a song cycle that’s celebratory, joyful and cathartic. Brown is the co-founder of Compass Records Group, she serves on the Board of the Nashville Chapter of the Recording Academy and she's the co-chair of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize. She’s kind of a big deal and guess what? She’s as nice as can be. www.alisonbrown.com www.bombshellradio.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.embersarts.com www.alexgreenonline.com Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Forwards” For more than 40 years the Welsh band the Alarm have been one of the most consistent acts on the planet, playing songs with conviction, heart and belief. With almost 20 studio albums under their belts, along with a discography that includes live albums, box sets and EPs, The Alarm are one of those bands where you pretty much want everything they put out. From albums like Declaration to Strength to their brand new one Forwards, The Alarm are a completist’s band. Speaking of Forwards, it’s a remarkable record—singer/songwriter Mike Peters has never sounded better, his voice alive with muscle and belief. The Welsh band have had a remarkable career that’s filled with endless highlights-- they toured with U2 and Bob Dylan, played at Queen’s Live at Wembley concert in 1986, been on IRS’s the Cutting Edge and American Bandstand, had hit singles all over the world even cracking the Billboard Top 50 here in the States, and wrote a song that became the official Welsh anthem for Euro 2020. This is a band that’s all about community, support and they remain as vital as ever. www.thealarm.com www.bombshellradio.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenonline.com www.embersarts.com Stereo Embers: Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Time On Earth” In the early ‘80s, the British born singer-songwriter Pete Astor was the frontman for the band The Loft and when that outfit split up, he formed the Weather Prophets who put out a trio of albums including the fabulous Diesel River and the miraculous Judges Juries and Horsemen. Astor kept the dream alive after the Prophets split up, emerging with fabulous projects like The Wisdom of Harry and Ellis Island Sound. Currently, Astor is a senior lecturer at the University of Westminster, and in 2014, his book on Richard Hell and the Voidoids' Blank Generation, was published as part of Bloomsbury’s ongoing 33⅓ series on seminal rock and roll albums. Over the years Astor hasn’t stopped putting out solo albums which are practically peerless. From Submarine to One For The Ghost to his outstanding new one Time On Earth, Pete Astor remains one of the most compelling figures in modern music. He’s quietly released a discography that’s redolent with thought, lyrical dexterity, observational smarts and hooks galore. Astor is one of the most listenable artists out there. Of Time On Earth, Dave Cantrell of Stereo Embers Magazine wrote, “…it's punchy in the melodic, reassuring way we’ve come to expect, somehow poignant and unsentimental in equal measure, it's a worthy addition to an already-bursting canon of sublime pop jewels.” www.peteastor.com www.bombshellradio.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.embersarts.com www.alexgreenonline.com Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com