#88: Sin’s A Good Man’s Brother (A Conversation With Tony Erba)

Episode 92 is another conversation with my good friend Michael Brousseau. On this episode we talk about rediscovering stuff you were into as a kid before you got turned on to the good stuff from your cool friend at school, and realize that stuff is good as well. This is a long loose conversation about music discovery, music listening habits and not having guilty pleasures. Michael has some really cool ideas and opinions on music, I was happy to have him on again. Check him out on the excellent podcast Gleaming the Tube!

Episode 91 is a conversation with returning guest Damien Moyal (As Friends Rust, Culture, On Bodies, Damien Done and more) On this episode we are talking about his newest project, a death metal band called Ekstasis and their new release, Paralyzing Impermanence. We talk about how this project came to be, what the future holds for the project as well as what some of the differences are making music and being a fan in the hardcore scene vs making music and being a fan in the metal scene. This was another great conversation with Damien who has some great ideas and opinions on music that I am always happy to give a platform to. Check out Ekstasis now!

Episode 28 is me alone talking about record stores. Starting at going to Tower Records on Sunset Strip as a kid to working at a few different record stores in New England, and now in the present time being a frequent customer at various shops. I also answer questions like "Does one need nine copies of the same Minor Threat record?", "Can you really impress a woman just by playing a Replacements record?" and many more. Note: This actual 90th episode is Episode 28 because the original Episode 28 has been removed.  

Episode 90 is a conversation with musician Joseph Grillo. Joseph has and does play in a number of bands including Garrison, Gay For Johnny Depp, Her Head's On Fire and Judas Knife among many others. We talk about most of the projects he's been involved in, as well as what it was like to record with J Robbins, the process of recording the Judas Knife record with Drew Thomas at God City.  Joseph was great to talk to and has some seriously great music out there, do yourself a favor and track it down!

Episode 89 is a loose conversation with my friend and returning guest Kevin Grant about the band Black Flag. We have an essentially open discussion about the band, how we got into them, their records, the 82 demos, the many connections to skateboarding and much more. This was a lot of fun to do Black Flag are one of my favorite bands and it was great to talk to have Kevin on again to talk about one of his favorite bands as well. 

Episode 88 is a conversation with Tony Erba. Tony is a veteran of the Cleveland punk and hardcore scene, doing time in a number of bands, Face Value, Fuck You Pay Me, Nine Shocks Terror and many more. In this episode we step a little bit away from the hardcore world and talk about hard rock, boogie rock and not having guilty pleasures when it comes to music. This was a lot of fun to record, Tony is hilarious and a great storyteller. Welcome back to Talk About the Passion. 

In this episode I talk to my friend Isaac Turner (Episode 82) about Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy, three dark records from the early 70's (Time Fades Away, On The Beach and Tonight's the Night) that were recorded and released during a period in Neil's life where he was just coming off the huge success of Harvest and the deaths of two of his closest friends from drugs. We have a casual conversation about each of the three records, Ike is a huge fan so it was great to have him talk about these records. 

In this episode I talk with Kevin Grant about the latest record his band Wire Lines released called Harvest Verses. This is Kevin's second appearance on the podcast (First being episode 38) Here we talk about how the new record came about, what it was like to put it together during a pandemic, and Kevin goes into detail about the meaning behind some of the songs on this record. The new record on Blind Rage Records is great and it was great to have him on to talk about it and get some background on it. 

On this episode I talk to Steve Risteen and Jamie Sciarappa who both did time in the Boston hardcore band Slapshot, and Jamie was also a member of SS Decontrol. Slapnot is a band comprised of dozens of ex-members of Slapshot gathering together to play a show on November 21, 2021 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Slapshot as well as to give fans and friends the opportunity to sing on stage with various members providing the music part. We get into how exactly this will work, what it's like playing these songs this many years later as well as their time in Slapshot in the 80's into the 90's. Although short, this was a great conversation and I am looking forward to seeing this live! 

Episode 84 sees Bob Mayo return for a third appearance on the podcast, this time we are talking about the "point of entry" phenomena wherein the first record you hear by an artist orients your idea of what they should sound like. We talk about getting into bands like Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Cheap Trick and Iron Maiden to name a few. When you first heard Judas Priest did you then move backwards through their catalog, or were you there for the beginning of some of these bands? We talk about the new Iron Maiden record and what other bands are still putting out solid records as well as how being a fan of music and a collector informed how he presented the excellent reissues of his band Wargasm. Look for a second episode soon where we get into underground and thrash metal!