Episode 103 - Max Bernstein

U of I in Champaign / Urbana in the 90's was typical of many satelite college towns to big cities with a happening urban center, dive bars and house parties for the indie scene to procreate within. Drummer Steve Lamos' band American Football was one of the bands within that scene that made a record for Polyvinyl Records, played a few shows then broke up -- except the lore and legend of that special debut album grew like crazy for the next 15 years. Reunion tours in 2014 and reissues all sold like wildfire. An appearance on NPR Tiny Desk Concerts puts the bands success into stark relief. Throughout it all Steve's drumming has added a jazz-influenced mathy component to the jangle and chime of their guitar lines, also punctuating many songs with his trumpet lines throughout their catalog. But even more impressive is his career as Professor of English and Writing at UC Boulder for the past 20 years. He's written extensively on something he calls Resonant Literacy as a way of listeners of music describing what they're hearing in esoteric and abstract ways. As American Football embarks this summer on tours of the US and Europe in celebration of the 25th anniversary of LP 1, Steve's living his best artistic life with more to come! 

Somewhere in the late 00's, drummer Chris Enriquez felt the familiar and invetible societal pull of many artists to finally "get a real job" after over a decade with his bands On The Might Of Princes, Long Island hardcore/emo heros, and Gracer after Princes disbanded. He left it behind and began working as a brand rep for PBR at a time when that brand was making a major push to become indie-rocks beer of choice, which largely came to pass. But much was missing from his life at this time and he held that tide back with alcohol and cocaine until it became untenable at a certain point. It was near the time he joined with the band Spotlights in 2017 that he came out of his self-imposed "retirement" and reentered the rock world with a force. But he took what he learned from his time as a brand rep with PBR and has put it to great use as a Brand Partnership Director with Brooklyn Vegan, Alternative Press, The Hard Times and Revolver Magazines, respectively. As he restarted this life his rock life also got back in to top gear he's now drumming with not only Spotlights, but also Julie Christmas and Orange 9MM, not to mention his pandemic solo project called Light Tower. In the last couple of years there's been much excitement around On The Might Of Princes, and they had great success with a re-release of their final album, in addition to a sold out live performance on Long Island earlier this month. 

There was a point maybe 10 years ago give or take, in which bandleader, frontman, guitarist, singer songwriter, podcaster and outsized personality Conan Neutron had a reckoning or awakening of sorts in regards to his bands and the dynamic within, which had taken a not-good turn. The Conan Neutron of today reflects on those regrets and missed opportunities and how he turned that into his successful podcast Conan Neutrons Protonic Reversal and his band since that fateful about face, Conan Neutron and His Secret Friends with Dale Crover (Melvins) on the kit and Tony Ashe (Trophy Wives/Coliseum) on the bass. This band and larger touring collective that he curates is the result of his embrace of who he is now vs back then. Their new album Adult Prom (Learning Curve) is a split LP with their friends in the band Lung and provide more proof that he's making the best music of his life. His bands Replicator and Victory & Associates, Mount Vicious and Household Gods set the stage for who his today, 380 episodes deep on Protonic Reversal and 7 albums deep making music with his best friends and musical heros, but this time sans drama. 

Deep into the pandemic, drummer AC Paterra and his musical partner in Zombi, bassist-keyboardist Steve Moore also went deep; deep into the sounds and songs that created who they have become today as a pillar of Relapse Records, a label often associated with noisy artists. However the songs that moved AC and Steve over these covid days were the yachti-rock based sounds of Gerry Rafferty, Paul Davis, Steely Dan and Barry Gibb. So faithful were these renditions that many assumed they were singing over the original tracks. This attention to detail doesn't escape their own original music they make as Zombi, a band releasing it's 7th album, Direct Inject, again on Relapse in late March '22. Sure, their band reflects the sounds of the 90's Pittsburgh heros such as Trans AM and a dash of Don Caballero, (to wit Phil Manley of TA guests on Direct Inject) but it would be short-sighted to assume this band is a cookie cutout of those giants. AC goes out of his way to avoid math in his deep grooves. In fact, Zombi continues to expand their sound and even include a touch of the yacht into their songs with Steve Moore's sax. AC is also busy as keyboardist for Grails and tours with them as well. He is living his best life as a full time musician who also happens to be making the best music of his life. 

Putting a band together for a younger Tristan Shone 20 years ago was not as easy as he thought it might be, so he used his knowledge of mechanical engineering and sense of tenacious autonomy to create his own instruments that would allow him to make live music on his own; Music without the use of traditional instruments like guitars and drums and backingtracks a single musician might use to fill out the sound. Nope. Tristan and his fellow engineers created a few different unique tactile tools that he could oscillate in a live setting for different sounds, explosions and deep tones. It became Author and Punisher and is now 7 records into a 20 year career with his most recent records being released on noise-centric Relapse Records and touring with the likes of Tool. To wit: Justin Chancellor and Danny Carey both play on A&P's most recent release, Krüller. Tristans dayjob as a mechanical engineer with The National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at UCSD dovetails perfectly with A&P as both concentrations are using his knowledge of machines for use in more delicate forms with scientists and musicians. Indeed, he and his fellow engineers are now creating unique instruments (dronemachines.com) for different artists like ARCA for use in her experimental performances. He's a dedicated San Diegan now and also devotes time with Border Angels who make "water drops" in dangerous desert regions for migrants seeking asylum in the states. 

Singer/songwriter/frontman Tim Kasher has been such a prolic maker of music over the past 25+ years with his bands Cursive and The Good Life and his solo records as his vehicles and conduits of creativity, so busy in fact that he has released a new album almost every year since 2000. Tim traveled from Los Angles to Chicago on Wednesday January 31st 2024 to spill about all of the "hows, why's and what in the world are we doing here" questions in front of great and responsive crowd at historic Fitzgeralds Nightclub in forever sunny Berwyn, just south of Chicago. We talk at good length about growing up in Omaha, The Saddle Creek Records era, which bunk is best on the tour bus (he likes the top), Taco Bell or Del Taco, which is his favorite record he's ever made, God, sportsball, some of his influences and what goes through his mind in the middle of the night. It was a fantastic evening all around for audience and performer and interviewer. One for the ages indeed. 

Multi-instrumentalist/producer/mixer Jordan Zadorozny created his one man band Blinker the Star in the mid 90's and made a huge splash with his 2nd album August Everywhere with Ken Andrews (Failure) behind the mixer. 28 years and 12 full length albums later JZ has released Animal Math (self-released), a highly enjoyable, forward-leaning and ambitious record that has hints of Jeff Lynne, Rush and a new wave type vibe that is unexpected and yet fits perfectly. Jordan is a producer and mixer with his own studio in rural Canada called Skylark Studios and gives him a literal playground to make his music and follow his muse while also double-fisting as a producer and mixer for hundreds of other artists. Our reluctant hero and host, Allen Epley, was invited by JZ to add vocals and lyrics to a song on this album entitled Throwing Dice that turned out amazing and it was a giant honor all the way around. This is Jordans' 2nd visit to the Third Gear Scratch studios, on December 16th, 2019 for our 28th episode. 

Artist and musician Jay Ryan remembers the moment that he began to create the animal-based characters that inhabit his hand-printed concert and event posters that have become ubiquitous in the rock world; he was just out of college at U of I in Champaign and was bogging down and unable to finish a painting because of undiagnosed ADHD, so he began to draw his living room automan, over and over from different angles. At a certain point he just added a pair of wide-set eyes that instantly imbued the automan with life for him. Since then, in his shop called The Bird Machine in Skokie IL, using his fatigue of seeing the usual rock posters using skulls and evil imagery, Jay has created a world in his posters involving squirrels, toasters, teddy bears, bicycles, rhinocerous in a kaleidascope of colors, all with his trademark wide-set eyes that is at once mystically sweet and ethereal. His band from Champaign called Dianogah became a huge outlet for him in other mediums and they went on to release 5 full-length albums on Southern Records with John McEntire (Tortoise) and Steve Albini as producer before calling it quits in 2009. They continue to play occasionally today and give this inspiring creator another avenue to spread his unique vision of the world. 

Episode 170 of Third Gear Scratch, in which our hero, Alien Epilepsy waxes and wanes about this year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Twenty Three. It's been a year of triumphs and struggles which has seen AE release his first and only solo record 'Everything' (Spartan) and tour on it, create a new record with his band Shiner, their 6th, tour with his friend Ian Prince and their band Birdhands with amazing bands Russian Circles, Spotlights, Jawbox and Pelican. But it was in the mother of all coup attempts that saw AE join Sunny Day Real Estate onstage in the role of guitarist in his friend Greg Suran's absence for 10 shows this summer and fall of '23. Growing older as an artist presents its own challenges and those showed up this year too. However, it is the continued support from the Third Gear Scratch faithful that give so much back and help to steady the ship for this long-time artist and maker of things. Huzzah!!

Being a body-builder and MMA fighter, Eugene S Robinson was a bit of an anomoly as the charismatic front man for the band he founded OXBOW, and before that in Whipping Boy, a more traditional punk rock outfit in the early 80's. It's in his new book, A Walk Across Dirty Waters and Straight Into Murderer's Row: A Memoir (Feral House) that we learn how he navigated these sometimes murky waters with braun and confrontation, a style he had had time to perfect as a black man in the world of punk rock. He's a direct and brash writer with a penchant for vivid story-telling of his often turbulent life. He's been a contributing writer and/or editor-at-large for GQ, Vice, Hustler and many more magazines and continues to spill his musings on his different platforms; his vlog Show Stomper with Eugene S Robinson allows him a place to air politics and MMA issues, and his blog Look What You Made Me Do, is an often personal, moving and funny account of his life and times. The new OXBOW record Love's Holiday (Ipecac) features the song Lovely Murk which was recently nominated for a Grammy, a first for this human who continues to expand his brand in brilliant ways.