Stereo Embers: The Podcast

“Matt Costa Moves To A Different House Every Time He Makes A New Record” Singer/songwriter Matt Costa is one of the most affecting musicians around and his new album Santa Rosa Fangs is brimming with the hushed pop finesse of Elliott Smith and the lush precision of Roddy Frame’s Surf. In this conversation he reveals that whenever it’s time to make a new record he packs his things and moves to another house. Costa’s fifth album may have been written in a different house than his previous four records, but Santa Rosa Fangs explores the definition of home in a much larger sense. Set against the backdrop of a California that’s both mythical and literal, the album traverses the nuanced landscape of the West Coast in an effort to apprehend life’s tragedies and triumphs. From the aching pull of “Pacific Grove” to the wistful marching pop of “Time Tricks,” Santa Rosa Fangs effortlessly captures the rich textures of Northern and Southern California with novelistic dexterity. In this candid, focused and intimate conversation, Costa talks about his creative discipline, his family roots, his favorite California authors and working with Belle and Sebastian.

“Why Psychiatrists Are Crazy” And we hope he does again! The Amazing Kreskin stops by for a chat with Alex and they talk about why psychiatrists are crazy, the prescience of the Manchurian Candidate and the power of suggestion. And nobody knows about the power of suggestion more than Kreskin. He's not a magician, an occultist or a psychic who’s equipped with powers of telepathy, precognition, or mind control. But he is a mentalist and a mentalist is someone who, through the power of suggestion, can make you think he can do all the things we just told you he can’t. But what they do better than anyone else is invoke belief and Kreskin’s been doing that since the ‘50s. An entertaining and focused chat, Alex and Kreskin also talk about Bob Hope, Winston Churchill, Hitler and Jaws. And how does the episode close? With Queen’s “A Kind Of Magic,” of course….

“Telling Your Son There's No Santa Claus” On a late summer day in September, just hours before our chat, Lyrics Born told his son there was no Santa Claus. He figured it was time. Lyrics Born’s son is 8. If I had a son I’d probably wait until he was…43. But LB explains his thinking behind breaking the news early and not only that, he explains a lot of other things as well in this illuminating chat. We talk about racism, spousal illness, the rising cost of healthcare for independent artists and why LB has no hip-hop exit strategy. We also chat about his new album Quite A Life, what it was like to grow up in Berkeley and why he felt it was time to address in his music the things he hadn’t addressed before.

“Getting Mono From The First Girl You Kiss” A rough romantic start for sure, but don’t worry, everything worked out for Jay Aston. While convalescing from his illness, the Welsh teenager started to listen to music in a more forensic fashion than he had before. Taking in Bowie, Eno and Roxy Music, Aston began crafting his own artistic vision. Moving to London with his twin brother Michael, Gene Loves Jezebel garnered immediate attention and were soon signed to a Beggars Banquet offshoot. Within a few years they had become one of the most well-known bands around and with hits like “The Motion Of Love” and “Desire” were poised to crack the U.S. market. But internal strife, brotherly animosity and label woes derailed the band at a pivotal time. In this candid conversation Aston talks to Alex about his relationship with singing, the rigors of the creative process and what it means to be in Gene Loves Jezebel in 2018. He also talks about his penchant for taking long walks, singing in the choir and how he’s never lost a fight.

"Brothers In Bands Will Always Work It Out" And he should know. After all, The Trews' guitar player John-Angus has been in a band with his brother Colin for most of his life. Whether it’s Oasis, The Black Crowes or The Kinks, John-Angus tells Alex that brothers will always work it out no matter what. Although the Kinks have indeed reformed, the jury’s still out on his other two picks. However, the jury is not out on The Trews’ new album Civilianaires. The verdict? It’s a straight-up killer. A blistering batch of breathy muscle (“Vintage Love”), crunchy stomp (“Time's Speeding Up”) and stadium sing-a-longs (“Bar Star”), the band’s sixth album is further proof that the Trews refuse to make the same record twice and are always moving boldly forward. John-Angus talks about the resignation of the band’s longtime drummer Sean Dalton, growing up listening to Guns n’ Roses and The Trews’ habit of post-show analysis. He also tells Alex about R.E.M., fatherhood and having a piano-playing grandmother who was considered the best musician in Nova Scotia.

“The J.D. Salinger Of New Wave?” It’s a fair question. When Bailey sang for the Thompson Twins in the ‘80s, he was everywhere. But in the ‘90s, he was nowhere to be found. Like Salinger, his hiatus was by choice. After years fronting one of the biggest bands in the world, Bailey was nowhere to be found. But while Salinger’s absence from the creative life was an inexplicable mystery punctuated by occasional sightings and not a word to the press, Bailey’s was more domestic. After the Thompson Twins’ demise, he married his bandmate Alannah Currie, had a few kids and moved to Currie’s native New Zealand to start a family. The couple recorded two albums as Babble and then Currie gave up music for environmental activism and art, while Bailey spent his time on scoring film soundtracks and producing other acts. After a 2014 appearance at the Rewind South Festival where he played Thompson Twins songs for the first time in 27 years, Bailey got the pop bug again and rediscovered his love of the paradigm. His first solo album is called Science Fiction and it’s a lush pop wonder filled with big hooks and Bailey’ s trademark voice. Bringing to mind Bowie, Roxy Music and Crowded House’s Together Alone, Science Fiction is stirring and rhythmic. Bailey talks to Alex about dropping out of pop music, learning to write 3 minute songs again and what his record collection was like in 1980. He also talks about The Sex Pistols, why Science Fiction is hopeful, and whether or not he’ll be writing more pop songs in the future.

“David J Says Peter Murphy Is Keeping Everyone In Stitches” Although it’s hard to imagine the Dark Prince of Goth is also a fountain of chuckles, David J says his bandmate Peter Murphy has been in fine form and keeping everyone laughing while on tour. The two former Bauhaus members have teamed up with a full band for an extensive tour to commemorate 40 years of Bauhaus and they’re crushing it everywhere they go. The former Love and Rockets/Bauhaus bassist/singer talks to Alex about how his reunion with Murphy came about, his relationship with former bandmates Daniel Ash and brother Kevin Haskins and why he’ll never retire. He also talks about reading Ian Curtis’ love letters, the sadness of the Beach Boys and his work with the Jazz Butcher Conspiracy. Alex also tells David J that he’s interviewed 3/4 of Bauhaus and now just needs Peter Murphy to complete the Goth Grand Slam… Photo Credit: Judy Lyon

“A Punk Who Reads Proust” As a member of The Heartbreakers, Walter Lure may have tenured in one of the most hedonistic, wild and downright feral punk bands of all time, but there was a lot more to this native New Yorker than met the eye. For one, before Lure joined the Heartbreakers he had finished college, graduating from Fordham with an English major and a minor in Chemistry. Lure survived the Heartbreakers and went from being a punk rocker to being a stockbroker. Not a normal punk trajectory, but Lure is a man of great texture and he speaks frankly and honestly to Alex about working on Wall Street, getting off drugs and how a nice college boy found himself in one of the wildest bands on the planet. He also talks about Johnny Thunders, his relationship with Richard Hell and why you shouldn’t trust anything Nick Kent writes. And speaking of writing, the interview ends with a reflection on Proust….

"When You're At Your Darkest Point, Write A Children’s Book” Everyone copes with the darkness a different way. For Shannon McArdle, after her divorce to Mendoza Line guitarist Timothy Bracy, she lost her band and her marriage. So she did the only thing she could at such a bleak moment in her life: she wrote a book for kids. But that’s not all she did. Roaring back from the abyss with the stone-cold classic Summer Of The Whore, McArdle announced her solo career in a big way. The follow-up Fear The Dream Of Axes was no less lethal and now her new album A Touch Of Class completes her winning sonic hat trick. In this interview McArdle talks to Alex about unwanted guests, hiking with her sister and why she might ditch it all and move to Ireland. She also talks about the making of A Touch Of Class, teaching high school English and why she thinks she’s a boring person (she’s not).

“Danny O’Reilly Of The Coronas Returns!” We’ve been at it here at Stereo Embers: The Podcast for a little under a year and we’re proud to announce our first return guest. The Coronas’ Danny O’Reilly sat down last year with Alex for a frank discussion about self-doubt and it remains to date the episode we’ve gotten the most letters about. That a high profile musician like O’Reilly was willing to talk about the doubts he had in his creative process was particularly resonant with our audience and many of you wrote to say you go through the very same thing. Now eight months later O’Reilly is back to talk to Alex about his love of the National, paying Lollapalooza and how he spent his summer. He also talks about The Coronas’ new EP, watching the World Cup and why he’s been more creative than ever.