Stereo Embers: The Podcast

"Day By Day” Well, that kind of perfectly describes the life of an artist. Because one never knows when they’ll book a series, or sell a painting, or get a gig supporting U2 on a world tour, most artists just take things one day at a time. And that has its challenges, but those challenges are expected—they’re part of the game. What’s not expected are things that happen out of nowhere that have nothing to do with the universe I just described. Like for example, when your union informs you out of nowhere that your benefits and your pension have been severely compromised. In this engaging conversation with actors Arjay Smith (“Perception," "The Day After Tomorrow") and Michael Charles Roman ("Grace and Frankie" "Keeping The Faith”), the two men talk about being blindsided by news that could negatively affect the lives of thousands of working actors. A great chat about booking roles, not booking roles and fighting back, this is a seamless and riveting conversation that gives a rare glimpse into an actor’s life.

“When I’m Not Having Fun I Miss The Fun We Have” That’s what Shannon McArdle texted me after our latest chat. And it’s true—we DO have a ton of fun when we talk. And this latest conversation is no exception. Shannon and I seem to operate on the same weird frequency—we’re both wildly tangential, anecdotal and discursive. This installment finds Shannon talking about learning to ride a bike again, being born sad and promising me that she’ll take the guitar off the wall behind her and start work on her new album. The former Mendoza Line singer is one of the finest voices in music and her solo career makes a great case that she’s also one of the most gifted songwriters we’ve got. Shannon also talks about the music scene in Athens, Georgia, why she gives cards on weird anniversaries and she assures us all that she won’t be getting scurvy, in spite of her reticence to eat fruit. This conversation means Shannon is tied for first place with the Coronas Danny O’Reilly for most appearances on the podcast. She’ll be back again in September to climb to the top of the heap….

"The Summer Sent You” The summer sent us Mary Black. And we are better for it. And we’re so lucky to have her. The legendary Dublin-born singer doesn’t do a lot of podcasts so we’re very appreciative that she chose to do ours. And, coincidentally enough, she appears one week after her son Danny of the Coronas made his third appearance on the show. Mary Black has the kind of musical CV that is filled with so many highlights, to list them all would require a separate podcast. Over the course of her career, she’s put out 12 solo albums, including classics like Without the Fanfare, and By The Time It Gets Dark. She also found time to record two great albums with the traditional Irish folk band De Dannan and toured the world with them as well. Over the course of her winning career, Mary Black sold out the Royal Albert Hall, collaborated with Joan Baez, Steve Martin Liam Clancy, and Westlife, won IRMA’s for Entertainer of the Year and Best Female Artist and in the process of all this work, became one of the most treasured voices in music, both in her native Ireland and internationally. And speaking of that voice, What HiFi magazine once declared that Black’s voice was so pure, they used it as an audiophile benchmark for comparing the sound quality of different high fidelity systems. In this conversation, Mary talks to Alex about heading to Tasmania, the work of Bob Dylan and Shane MacGowan, being protective of her voice and what adding orchestration taught her about the songs we’ve known her for all these years...

“World Of Burning Hate” Jesse Michaels is perhaps best known as the singer of the Berkeley punk band Operation Ivy. Although they were around for just a couple of years, they remain one of the most influential punk bands of all time. After the band’s dissolution, Michaels played in Big Rig, put out two fabulous albums with Common Rider and then formed Classics of Love in 2008. Classics Of Love put out an EP and a full length in 2012, but have been pretty quiet until now. The band’s new EP World of Burning Hate is the exact shot of sonic momentum you need right now in this uncertain and troubled time. A searing and ferocious blast of feral punk rock, the five songs are filled with momentum and heart. It’s an exhilarating listen. In this interview Jesse talks to Alex about putting his death rock project on hold, how the name of his band came to him in a dream and why he listens to prog rock...

“True Love Waits” Well, if you love The Coronas, you didn’t have to wait too long for the follow-up to 2017’s Trust The Wire. But because of the global pandemic, you might have to wait a bit to see one of the best live bands on the planet in the flesh. In the meantime, the Dublin outfit’s new long player True Love Waits is one of the most riveting, soul-affirming and rousing albums of 2020. Making his third appearance on the podcast, singer Danny O’Reilly talks to Alex about staying creative in the time of Covid, how sports keep our days structured and living with the void of physical contact. He also recalls the last live gig The Coronas played, why he’s looking forward to the U.S. having different leadership and finding out that his mom toured Japan before he did….

“A Level Presentation Of A Human Being” That’s how Tyler Glenn describes how after all this time of being in a band he’s finally arrived at a mindset that takes in both criticism and praise. Being level means he’s not dazzled by the positive or felled by the negative. “I don’t feed into the good or bad anymore,” he says. Well, when it comes to Neon Trees, there sure is a lot of good. The California born Glenn and his bandmates put out three albums in four years—2010’s Habits, 2012’s Picture Show and 2014’s Pop Psychology. And that concentrated level of activity yielded some pretty impressive results, like nabbing Billboard and BMI awards for the alternative chart topper "Animal," touring the world and opening for everyone from Duran Duran to the Flaming Lips to My Chemical Romance, playing the Macys Thanksgiving Parade, performing on Kimmel, Fallon, Leno and Letterman, doing an episode of Live From Daryls House, and having their single "Everybody Talks" in a commercial for the Buick Verano. And that’s just a partial list. Rather than me running through their Linked In profile, let me say this: Neon Trees are one of the most original, arresting and utterly satisfying bands on the planet. Every song has a perfect dose of edge, melody, musical precision and infectious choruses. Breaking a 6 year silence, they're back with I Can Feel you Forgetting Me, a sterling collection of one manic pop thrill after the other. From Nights to Everything Is Killing Me, Glenn and his bandmates swing freer than ever and it results in one of the very best albums of 2020. In this conversation Glenn talks to Alex about his love of The Smiths, how he’s coping with not performing, and how to retain an air of mystery while still being accessible to his fans. They also talk about the catharsis of both coming out and leaving the Mormon Church, why Springsteen is such a great performer and the perils of co-dependency….

“It Takes A Lifetime To Be Comfortable With Who You Are” Those are sage words from a rather sagacious fellow named Tommy Emmanuel. One of the greatest guitar players on the planet, Emmanuel talks to Alex about a lifetime of being a professional musician. And when we say lifetime, we really mean it—Emmanuel went pro at the age of 6 and his CV is so packed with accomplishments, it would take a separate podcast to list them all. In this conversation Tommy discusses Golden Boy Syndrome, why it’s important to be a good listener, and his love of George Benson. They also talk about what it was like for Tommy to hear Dire Straits for the first time, how it feels to be watched on stage and how he bounced back from a gruesome finger dislocation. The Australian-born Emmanuel is now a U.S. citizen and the release of his new album The Best of Tommysongs is a reimagining of songs from his winning back catalog. A guitarist of tremendous finesse and precision, Emmanuel is as elegant of an interview as he is as a player.

“West Coast Antidote" A long way away from their native Brisbane, the young Australian outfit Between Kings are now officially based out of Los Angeles. Although COVID -19 has gotten in the way of everything from the release of their new album Young Love to playing live gigs, they are firmly committed to basing out of the West Coast. Now, Young Love was supposed to hit the streets, but the global pandemic made the band decide to instead put out an EP called Antidote which is comprised of half of the tracks that will be found on the record--the second half of the album will come in the form of another forthcoming EP. This wasn't Plan A. but the band decided that it was the best way to stay connected to their fans. In this conversation, guitarist Jordan Coyne talks to Alex about Australia, in-house pull-up pranks and how mindfulness is connected to mental health. He also recalls a moving conversation he had with his father about his music, life in Los Angeles and how sometimes he’s so creatively driven, he forgets to sleep. Comprised of pals that met in music school--singer Nic Machuca, Coyne, bassist Jayden Marsh and drummer Nick Fanning, Between Kings' 2018 debut The Escape, was a thrilling blast of stadium sized choruses, thoughtful arrangements and big crunchy riffs that brought to mind everyone from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Linkin Park. Their new work picks up on the promise of their debut—it’s melodic, it’s muscular and it’s utterly infectious. With 1.5 million streams on Spotify, the band is catching on—and rightfully so. These guys have got the goods.

"Reds To Blue And Back Again" John Steinbeck once wrote: "There are as many worlds as there are kinds of days, and as an opal changes its colors and its fire to match the nature of a day, so do I." All those changes of colors? Well, that’s a good way to describe what’s been going on with David Cook lately. The Texas born, Missouri raised Cook’s new single is called "Reds Turn Blue" and it’s a track that assigns manic highs to the color red and the painful lows to the color blue. The song traces not only the way our moods shift from color to color but more specially, how when we have anxiety that shift has its own punching velocity. It’s the first new blast of music Cook has put out in a while—since 2018’s Chromance EP. But don’t think he’s not been busy. The Season 7 winner of "American Idol" spent the better part of 2018 performing in "Kinky Boots" on Broadway and headlining an acoustic tour. The 37 year old musician talks to Alex about how his new song is an artistic breakthrough, why he has trouble throwing things away and his recent diagnosis of an anxiety disorder. He also talks about playing new songs for his wife, how he’s different than his onstage persona and why there’s suddenly a ukulele in his house...

“Precision, Movement and Vampires” "I am abnormally fond of that precision which creates movement," e.e. cummings once wrote. Well, it’s hard not to think that the famous poet would be abnormally fond of Local Nomad. With a satchel full of songs all written with the kind of poetic precision that brings to mind the deft wordplay of everyone from Paul Simon to Elvis Costello, Local Nomad’s new EP Young Vampires is a stirring blend of thoughtful indie rock, laced with inventive percussion, sweeping instrumentation and breezy choruses. This is an EP that definitely creates moment. Led by Michael Desmond, who fronted the now-defunct Long Island orchestral indie rock outfit Gabriel The Marine, Local Nomad's sound is meticulous and intricate. Desmond is a true pop craftsman and his band’s new EP may have the pop hooks of a band like Squeeze but it also has the deft sonic architecture of Vampire Weekend or The Police. In this conversation Desmond talks to Alex about listening to the Replacements, heading back to college and the complexity of composition. He also talks about how to know when you’re playing the right gigs, growing up in New York and his family’s musical lineage.