Only Three Lads - Classic Alternative Music Podcast

Hope you like curling up with a good podcast, because this week we're all about books...well, specifically, songs that are about or inspired by literature. How high brow of us! Our Third Lad for this discussion is "literate folk-pop" singer/songwriter Robert Deeble. Literary themes are central to the heart of his music, and his recently released 7th album, The Space Between Us, is no exception. It's another invitation into the secret, beautiful world he has been building since his 1997 debut, Days Like These. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're gonna make you an offer you can't refuse...because this week, we go way back to discuss some of our favorite songs of 1972 with the marvelous Anne Richmond Boston from The Swimming Pool Q's! Possessing a crystalline voice, Anne's journey led her from church and high school choirs to the quirky new wave of the Swimming Pool Q's. Following their debut album The Deep End on DB Records in 1981, the Q's were one of the first Atlanta/Athens areas bands to be snapped up by a major label. For A&M, they recorded their self-titled second album (1984) and Blue Tomorrow (1986). A major tour with Lou Reed ensued, as did a major label makeover. Anne left the Q's in 1987, with her terrific solo debut, The Big House of Time (largely written by and recorded with then husband Rob Gal from The Coolies) following for DB in 1990. With such a promising start to her solo career, surely a second album was hot on its heels. Right??? Well, the intended follow up, I Should Be Happy, was recorded, roughly mixed, and then shelved for 30+ years for unknown reasons. Fortunately, the tapes were revitalized, revamped, and are at long last released! It's a beautiful song cycle about longing and loss, featuring a notable cast of musicians and singers. That should make us ALL happy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the darkest, most spiteful O3L yet! Thanks to an expected guest standing us up at the last minute, after 322 episodes of musical positivity, this week it's all about pushing each other's musical hot buttons. We each curate a list of five songs that we believe the other will loathe. Detest. Hate. Which means you get more scorn. More disgust. More Uncle Gregg rants. More annoying Brett "grunge voice" imitations. Lucky...you!?!? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The merit in action lies in finishing it to the end." - Genghis Khan Well, you'll definitely want to finish this six pack to the end, because this week it's all about Meritorio in action. That is, Meritorio Records, the splendid Madrid-based record label founded by Álvaro Lissón that has been connecting some of the finest indie pop/rock artists with worldwide audiences for nearly a decade. During this six pack, you'll hear the following recent tracks by a selection of Meritorio artists: 1) Prism Shores - "I Didn't Mean To Change My Mind" (from the upcoming LP Softest Attack) 2) Dancer - "Always Running" (from the LP More or Less) 3) The Maureens - "Me & My Friend" (from the forthcoming LP Don't Give Up) 4) The Kitchenettes - "Sunday Best" (single) 5) Rural France - "Lonely Heart Pyramid Scheme" (from the forthcoming LP Sloths) 6) Fort Not - "Careless Love" (from the LP You On Repeat) Support this great label and its roster at https://meritoriorec.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What the world needs now...is O3L, sweet O3L! The lads are joined by guitarist/vocalist duo Eric McFadden and Kate Vargas — collectively known as Sgt. Splendor — to count down the top five songs this messed-up world needs right now. The conversation explores how music can heal, empower, and unite in difficult times. Guest Bios: Eric McFadden — A spellbinding guitarist with a catalog stretching back to the mid-'80s punk band Angry Babies. He's played with George Clinton & P-Funk All Stars, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Jackson Browne, Joe Strummer, Anders Osborne, Fishbone's Angelo Moore, among many others. Kate believes that Eric is one of the greatest guitarists of all time...and who are we to disagree? Kate Vargas — A singer-songwriter with five acclaimed solo albums, including Golden Hour in the House of Lugosi (2025). Known for her gritty voice and evocative storytelling. Eric believes that Kate belongs in an elite group of songwriters that include Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Leonard Cohen...and who are we to disagree? About Sgt. Splendor: Eric and Kate met at Pat McDonald's (of Timbuk 3 fame) Steel Bridge Song Fest at the Holiday Music Motel in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Their collaboration blends hard rock, riff blues, junkyard folk, desert psychedelia, alternative funk, and carnival-esque vibes. Their third album, Isotopia, is out now on Mother West. Other Topics Discussed: The Soil Dove immersive circus/dinner show featuring Joan Baez Eric's personal encounters with Joe Strummer The origin story of Sgt. Splendor at Steel Bridge Song Fest The making of Isotopia Their cover of Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" Uh...Lou Bega. Music Featured: Sergeant Splendor — "Brave, Rough, and Ready to Go" Sergeant Splendor — "Play On" Connect: sgtsplendor.com facebook.com/onlythreelads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BIFF! This week, we're focusing on Album 1-2 punches...that is, albums where the first two songs knock you out. BANG! Our Third Lad is Ben Crum from long-running Elephant 6 band Great Lakes. POW! More than 25 years and eight records on from Great Lakes' classic debut, Ben Crum returns with a fantastic new Great Lakes album, Don't Swim Too Close (HHBTM Records). The immediately accessible record draws from classic rock tradition, echoing both the Americana spirit of The Band and Neil Young and the proto-indie rock of Television and the Velvet Underground. Crum's dry humor bubbles up throughout, tempering heavy, earnest moments with wit. WHAMMO! This is very likely to be the only music podcast you listen to today that incorporates both boxing and Scuffy the Tugboat references. KO!! Thanks for Mike Turner from HHBTM Records for the introduction and coordination. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the first full weekend of Daylight Savings Time here in (most parts of the) U.S. You bring the sunshine, and we'll supply the tunes! Brett Vargo chats with electropunk pioneer Peter Pepper about his journey from a "dirtbag punk kid" growing up in Florida to becoming an underground cult hero of a genre he accidentally helped to create. He is currently a renowned multimedia creator, world-traveling storyteller, and founder of the AdventurePunk movement - a philosophy centered on curiosity, reinvention, and crafting meaning through exploration and doing something rather than nothing...even if it's hard. Featured in our most eclectic six pack yet: 1) Peter Pepper - "Monday Night Electropunk" (single) 2) Mekons - "Mudcrawlers (Version)" feat. Benji Webbe (from the forthcoming LP Horrorble, Fire Records) 3) The Sweetest Ache - "Briaris" 4) Heavenly - "Robas Escenas" (original version from the LP Highway To Heavenly, Skep Wax Records) 5) Special Friend - "Isolation" (from the LP Clipping, Skep Wax Records) 6) Boiled In Lead - "King of the Dogwoods" (from the LP King of the Dogwoods, Omnium Records) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we’re covering bands who released one…and only one…proper album in their career.  Sometimes they say everything they need to say in one album long statement.  Sometimes, they attempt to chase the same feeling of the first album and can’t quite repeat the magic.  Sometimes they’re not given a chance.  Our Third Lad knows a little something about being in a "one and done" band.  Frank Boscoe’s great ‘90s indiepop band Wimp Factor 14 released exactly one proper album for Little Teddy Records, 1993’s Ankle Deep.  Fortunately, more music followed with his mid-to-late ‘90s band Vehicle Flips, 2000s group The Gazetteers, and this decade, The Ekphrastics.  Fortunately, The Ekphrastics were NOT "one and done," as they released their marvelous third album, All of a Sudden, Pow!, on Harriet Records in September 2025. Like the two albums that preceded it, it contains the kind of songwriting prowess that makes you marvel at how the songs can be so clever, so novel, so well researched, and yet so infectious and accessible.  For example, how about a song called “I’m Going to Read You the Riot Act” where he then ponders where the term came from, and then actually READS you the Riot Act as it was written in 1715 England?  Or how about  the wind chill factor?  Or journeyman first baseman John Jaso?. Experience short stories about aging marching bands, bee stings, COVID testing vans, money-laundering art galleries, rampageous hockey fans, who’s in the obituaries today, and unwritten pop songs.  You can get another glimpse into the mind of Mr. Boscoe in his sixth book of poetry, Tiny Delivery Robots All Over Campus.  Proud members of the Pantheon Podcasts family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Croon•er (n) ['kru:nər]: a singer, particularly a male one, who sings sentimental songs in a soft, low voice. Decades before Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, or Uncle Gregg captured the hearts, imaginations, and undergarments of a swooning audience, crooners ruled the earth. The term typically conjures up golden throated singers like Bing Crosby, Nat "King" Cole, Tony Bennett, and Mel Torme interpreting the timeless songs of Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin. But one crooner reigned supreme: Ol' Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra. He was "The Voice," possessing an instrument of rare, pure, crystalline perfection, with a phrasing, tone, and ability to charge every word with such emotion that you can palpably sense his audience getting weak in the knees. Never has Sinatra's legendary 1940s performing career sounded as immaculately and pristinely alive as it does on the SING label's recent archival projects: At the Hollywood Bowl 1943-48; Christmas on the Air; and the 5-LP box set Long Ago, Far Away, all lovingly restored and mastered by an award winning team and featuring exquisitely detailed liner notes by no greater authority than record producer, historian, archivist, author of the acclaimed Sessions with Sinatra, and host of the weekly radio show Sinatra Standard Time, Chuck Granata. We are fortunate to have Chuck join us this week to chat about all things Sinatra: the innovative new sets, his important role in pop music's breakthrough, his classic and most underrated albums, and the use of AI for good. And, of course, because O3L is focused on classic alternative music, our lists cover some of our favorite singers who carried on crooning into the '70s, '80s & '90s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we celebrate the life and music of Elliott Smith, tracing his journey from noisy indie rocker to lo-fi DIY troubadour to the reluctant voice of a generation. Elliott released three records with his band Heatmiser and five solo classics before his untimely passing at the age of 34 in 2003 (with two posthumous collections that followed), leaving a rich, beautiful, emotionally wrought catalogue of music that continues to influence artists today. We explore the complex, brilliant, funny, but ultimately tragic figure that was Elliott Smith, and we are fortunate to have a Third Lad who had a front row seat to his musical development - Lucas Ward from The Silver Snails. Lucas was a close friend of Elliott's (née Steven) in high school and college and shares an intimate portrait of the artist as a young man. But this episode has a dual purpose, as we also celebrate the release of the second Silver Snails album, Speed of Light. The Silver Snails are a glam rock space pop family band based in the wine country of Italy, consisting of Lucas, his wife Elisa Fantini, and aided and abetted by their three children. It's a cosmic delight of an album - a string of ten pearls lovingly crafted to uplift, inspire, and open the hearts of listeners. It draws from a stylistically diverse, spiritually enriched, globally connected palette. Oh, it also rocks and is a lot of fun! And if their cover and video of "Video Killed The Radio Star" doesn't have you smiling from ear to ear, consult a doctor immediately. Learn about Lucas's journey from Portland-raised Wall Street titan to Italian-dwelling psych-pop craftsman. Get a primer on Italian pop music. Laugh. Cry. Feel. Get reaffirmation that you are pretty. Be the faro d'amore. All this and more...only on O3L. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices