Stereo Embers: The Podcast

"Liam Croker Rode A Horse Named Zeus” And that shouldn’t surprise you. Why? Because The Winachi Tribe frontman is as fearless offstage as he is on. That brand of confidence has given his band a clean shot of momentum. Together since 2015 The Winachi Tribe has released a string of critically-acclaimed singles, been lauded by the NME, gotten heavy airplay from KCRW to the BBC6, opened for The Happy Mondays and headlined their own major tour. And they did all this without ever releasing an album. In this candid and wildly entertaining conversation Liam talks to Alex about finding the seedy side of L.A., loving Guns n’ Roses and why he loves Liverpool.

“Dane Lloyd Came Home From Tunisia And Got A Phone Call From Sony" After a six month sojourn to North Africa where he and his Into The Ark bandmate Taylor Marshall Jones were playing holiday resorts, the duo came home to find the EP they recorded before they left had garnered some hefty interest from several labels. Their soulful harmonies and rootsy grooves not only landed them a final appearance on “The Voice” UK, it endeared them to millions of new fans. One of those fans was fellow Welshman Tom Jones, who decided to take them out on the road to open his U.S. tour. Lloyd talks to Alex about busking in the red light district of Sydney, the worries he had about performing on “The Voice” and about that time the Manic Street Preachers visited his school.

“Petra Haden And I Admit We’ve Never Heard Pavement” A bit of a shocker, for sure. But in this conversation, singer/violinist Petra Haden tells Alex she’s never heard the legendary indie band. And Alex admits he hasn’t either. And that’s just the beginning of the confessions in this wildly entertaining chat. Haden talks about how she handles self-consciousness, why she put down the violin as a teenager and how she came to be a member of James Williamson and the Pink Hearts. She also talks about not reading a book Peter Falk gave her and she scolds Alex in several voices from the Simpsons….

"Andy Wickett Is Sick Of Talking About Duran Duran" Well, after all this time, you probably would be, too. After leaving the Birmingham outfit TV Eye in 1979 Andy Wickett replaced Stephen Duffy as the singer of Duran Duran. What did Stephen Duffy do? Well, he replaced Wickett in TV Eye, naturally…With Wickett Duran Duran cut a series of tracks, including Wickett’s “Girls On Film.” That song was the standout on the demo that got the band signed, but Wickett saw the way things were going artistically, and wasn’t interested in heading down that path. Over the course of his career Wickett played with the Xpertz (the first band to fuse electronica with dub) and World Service. He found himself opening arena tours for the likes of Culture Club, The Clash and—you guessed, it: Duran Duran. With the original demos unearthed, Wickett tells Alex about teaching Simon LeBon how to sing, who the best musician was in Duran Duran at the time, and his new album Creatures Of Love. "David Haskell Gives Great Advice" He really does. The first-time director of the indie comedy “The Outdoorsman” tells Alex that if you want to get something done, the secret is to set a schedule. It sure worked for Haskell. For his first feature film he secured funding and was able to cast Sasheer Zamata (“Saturday Night Live”) and Brent Morin (“Undateable”) as the leads. A lighthearted look at how we face our demons and how we learn to let them go, “The Outdoorsman” is one of the sweetest, smartest and funniest films of the year. Haskell tells Alex about the rigors of getting the script right, how Zamata and Morin found their way to the film and writing a movie about punk legend Atom and his Package.

“Daniel Ash Knew I Drove A Honda Fit” It didn’t take long for Daniel Ash to know Alex drives a Honda Fit. Only minutes after their chat began, the former Love and Rockets frontman could tell Alex wasn’t a fellow thrill-seeking motorcycle enthusiast. Call it intuition, call it a lucky guess, but either way, Ash was right on the mark. Also on the mark is Ash’s new band Poptone, which finds him paired up with his former Bauhaus/Love and Rockets bandmate Kevin Haskins alongside Haskins’ daughter Diva on bass. Postpone plays the songs of Ash’s former bands as well as numbers by Tones On Tail, all reimagined in a dark and glorious new direction. As exciting as that news is, in this interview Ash talks about…motorcycles. And Brigitte Bardot standing next to a motorcycle. And Easy Rider. And if an ad for a motorcycle can upstage a beautiful girl. You get the idea. “Thank you for talking to me about things I like,” Ash says at one point. It’s an entertaining and discursive talk, but the through-line is motorcycles: why some people ride them and others don’t, what the best motorcycle films are and whether or not stepping on stage gives Ash the same thrill as blasting through the desert at 100 miles per hour on…you guessed it: a motorcycle. He also talks about his new single “Alien Love,” says Kevin Haskins is always making lists and he tells Alex what picture he has hanging in his bathroom. Cover photo: Brett Widmann

“Steve Barton Didn’t Have A Plan” When college rock favorites Translator broke up in the mid-‘80s, singer Steve Barton didn’t have a plan as to what he was going to do next. So he did what he does best: He wrote songs. With a series of winning solo albums under his belt and Translator back together and putting out records, the L.A.-born Barton talks to Alex about songwriting, his life with Translator and his new triple album Tall Tales And Alibis. He also talks a bit about his father, Wire Train and Brandi Carlisle...

Magic Dick Has Epiphanies Every Day Even though he’s considered to be one of the greatest living practitioners of the harmonica, Magic Dick never stops practicing. As a result of his tireless work ethic, the Connecticut-born musician tells Alex he has two to three epiphanies every day. A few years ago the former J. Geils Band member teamed up with guitar virtuoso Shun Ng and the two formed an acoustic duo. Creatively inspired by Ng, Dick found that he had a lot more to say on the harmonica. In a revealing and focused conversation, Dick talks to Alex about forsaking a career in science, not picking up the harmonica until college and why Bob Dylan is so special. He also gives advice to young musicians and explains why after five decades in music, he’s at the height of his powers.

"Joy Lenz Didn’t Always Love Cats" You might know Joy Lenz from shows like “One Tree Hill” and “Guiding Light” and “Colony” but on this podcast we learn a lot about the actress that you may not have known. Joy tells Alex about discovering she had a four octave singing voice, writing a musical based on the life of “Pocahontas” and how she didn’t used to love cats but she sure does now. This special mini-edition of Stereo Embers: The Podcast is to promote the one night only CATstravaganza featuring Hamilton’s Cats! The fundraiser and celebrity musical will feature live music by Olive&Ollie, magic by the Fantastic Fig and his cat Newton, $20,000 of prizes, a decadent party with open bar and live celebrity performances in an all new musical spoof featuring Fred Willard (Modern Family), Emily Deschanel (Bones), Wendi McClendon Covey (The Goldbergs), Mindy Sterling (Con Man), Kirsten Vangsness (Criminal Minds), Nicole Sullivan (Black-ish), Joy Lenz (Dexter), Elaine Hendrix (Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll), Carla Jimenez (The Mick), Brendan Robinson (Pretty Little Liars), Lori Alan (Sponge Bob Square Pants) Maiara Walsh (Switched at Birth), the So You Think You Can Dance Dancers and more. The Lakers’ Bonnie-Jill Laflin, the NBA’s first female scout, will host the red carpet. The event is Saturday, April 21 at the Montalban Theatre 1615 Vine Street, Los Angeles, CA 90028 For tickets: www.kittybungalow.org

“Tav Falco Got A Late Start” The legendary Tav Falco is our guest this week and mid-way through the interview he confesses that he got a late start in life. Well, he’s sure made up for it. Not only is Tav Falco one of the most enigmatic and authentic musicians out there, it's hard to think of a bigger champion of underground music, art and literature in the modern age. A musician, photographer, historian, and filmmaker, Falco is a true American original. What’s he like? Imagine if Harry Dean Stanton was cast in a biopic about Gene Vincent and the film was directed by David Lynch. Tav sits down with Alex and gives him the scoop on his new record. He also talks about his friendships with Alex Chilton and Lux Interior of The Cramps, the psychology of David Bowie and how to avoid self parody. Tav is an authentic and unique artist and this conversation is a studied chat about art, history and how to keep the danger and the romance alive in music.

"Terrorizing Peter Murphy" While on tour with his band The Sextants in the early 90s, Brennan Hester and his bandmates kept running into Peter Murphy. So they did what any band would do when staring down the Goth legend: they kept slapping Sextants stickers on his tourbus. Brennan tells Alex about running into Peter Murphy in a speedo, opening for Jane’s Addiction, his disdain for Morrissey and working at the Fillmore and drinking dusty booze left over from the ‘70s. “We just siphoned off the flies with a funnel,” he says. Hester also talks to Alex about being on the same record label as Kylie Minogue and Henry Rollins, the demise of The Sextants and his first solo album Tell Me Where You Are Today. Alex also reveals he's the one who invented podcasting and Brennan claims to have invented Shazam...